Schedules

Schedules

Schedules temporarily replace a screen's direct fallback playlist. Tilecast supports weekly recurring schedules and one-time events.

Only Owners and Administrators can create, edit, enable, disable, or delete schedules and groups.

Create a schedule

Open Schedules → Create schedule.

The builder has four parts:

1. Content: schedule name and playlist
2. Timing: weekly recurring or one-time event
3. Targets: individual screens, groups, or both
4. Advanced options: enabled state, priority, and internal description

Review the summary and preview before saving.

Weekly recurring schedule

Set:

• days of week
• start time
• end time
• IANA timezone
• optional start and end dates

An end time at or before the start time is an overnight window. For example, 21:00–06:00 starts on the selected day and ends the following morning.

Tilecast uses calendar and timezone rules rather than fixed 24-hour durations.

One-time event

Set an exact start and end. The schedule is evaluated in its selected timezone.

Targets

A schedule can target:

• one or more individual screens
• one or more groups
• both

A screen that is selected directly and also appears through a group is still one target.

Precedence

Emergency takeover always wins over schedules.

When several schedules match the same screen, Tilecast compares:

1. Higher priority
2. Direct-screen target over group target
3. Later effective start
4. Stable ID as the final deterministic tie-breaker

Update time does not decide the winner.

Priority

Use priority to express a real operational hierarchy.

Example:

Priority	Use
0	Normal recurring programming
20	Special event
50	Time-sensitive announcement

Do not use extreme priority values as a substitute for emergency takeover. Emergencies are a separate operation with expiration, preparation state, and audit behavior.

Disabled schedules

A disabled schedule remains saved but has no effect. This is useful for seasonal or reusable schedules.

Direct fallback

When no schedule matches, the direct screen assignment plays. If the screen has no direct assignment, it shows the configured no-content screen.

Offline evaluation

Player manifests include relevant schedules and the required playlists. A player can continue evaluating received schedules while offline.

Offline scheduling depends on the device clock and timezone data. Studio warns about reported clock skew; Tilecast does not silently rewrite the player's clock.

An offline player cannot receive a schedule that was created after it disconnected.

Daylight-saving behavior

For a nonexistent local time during a spring-forward gap, the boundary advances to the first valid time.

For a repeated local time during a fall-back overlap:

• a start uses the earlier occurrence
• an end uses the later occurrence

This avoids shortening an intended playback window.

Unexpected playback

Check, in order:

1. Is an emergency active?
2. Is the schedule enabled?
3. Does its timezone match the intended location?
4. Does the screen match a direct or group target?
5. Is a higher-priority schedule active?
6. At equal priority, is another schedule directly targeting the screen?
7. Is the player clock skewed?
8. Did the player receive the latest manifest?