Welcome to Schedules Direct
Schedules Direct is a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate the public about the benefits of Open Source Software and other free software, provide support functions for such software, and provide funding for research that facilitates the improvement or creation of Open Source Software and other free software for the benefit of the public at large.
The primary benefit we provide to our members is access to raw U.S./Canadian TV listing data for the Free and Open Source Applications they use. Those applications then use the data to provide things like PVR functionality, search tools, and private channel grids.
Please note that our data feed contains *raw* data. You'll want to use one of the applications on the "Approved Applications" list. That may even be how you got here in the first place!
For applications, the data is provided in XML via a SOAP remote procedure call. If you wish to avoid SOAP calls, XMLTV provides a client that can output the raw XML or a file in the standard XMLTV format.
The cost of membership is currently US$20/year, with a 7 day free trial.
The data is provided under license by Tribune Media Services via Zap2it.com. Please respect the license terms.
For more information, Please check out our FAQ and FORUMS.
For news, check out Announcements in our forum.
January 13, 2009
CES and Surveys
Schedules Direct sent two people to CES last year to meet with our TMS account manager. It was so productive that we all decided to go this year. We also felt that it would be a good time for us to all finally meet in person (since most of us never had). In the photo (left to right), you can see Robert K (listings support coordinator), Robert E (board member), Geoff N (board member), Kevin O (board member), and Chris P (chief operations officer). Unfortunately, Isaac R (board chairman) and Daniel K (board member) were not able to attend.
Despite the fact that we were short two board members, we had an incredibly productive meeting with TMS, and learned a lot from what we saw at CES. We also discovered that we all get along great with each other, so it was a very successful team building weekend.
Along with this, we've added a new surveys section to the left nav that allows us to anonymously poll visitors to this site. We've even posted an important survey to gather information about opening up Schedules Direct membership (and benefits) to people outside of the US and Canada, so please head over and share your opinion.
November 11, 2008
Looking for Volunteer Developers
In an effort to provide better service and more accurate TV listings, Schedules Direct is moving forward with our plans to host TV listings data on our own servers. To this end, we are looking to put together a small team of experienced developers (preferably familiar with the open source software community) to build a new application to handle distribution of the data we license from TMS, and eventually data that would be provided directly by our members to correct or supplement the TMS feed.
Please see the Official Announcement on our forums for the full details and application process.
February 29, 2008
Newsletter #1
Our first newsletter has just been published. Those of you who have signed up for it will be receiving a copy soon via email. For those who are not interested in receiving email from us, or who want to read it now, you can find a copy in our forums, along with other news and announcements.
September 20, 2007
Price Lowered and Memberships Extended (reprise) + Google Checkout!
We have reached our goal and have lowered the membership fee to $20/year!
For existing members, we're in the process of adjusting your expiration date an additional three months. ($15/9 months)
In addition, Google Checkout is now an available payment method.
We'd like to thank everyone for allowing us to reach our price target!
September 13, 2007
Price Lowered and Memberships Extended!
We have now passed our second milestone and are lowering the membership fee to $15 for 6 months, effective immediately. For existing members, you'll notice that the expiration date of your account has been extended an additional three months.
To thank you all for getting us to this point, we've also added an extra day for each day you've had a paid membership. It's our way of showing our appreciation for your confidence in our organization.
Our next goal remains to sign up enough subscribers to reach $20/yr.