Twice a year, a large chunk of the planet agrees to pretend it is a different time. The trouble is that it never agrees on when. In 2026 the UK and the EU turn their clocks back on Sunday 25 October, while the United States and most of Canada hold out until Sunday 1 November. For those seven days, London sits four hours ahead of New York instead of five, and every live stream that crosses the Atlantic quietly moves by an hour on somebody's sofa.
That week is not a quiet one, either. It holds the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, the Mexico City Grand Prix, a packed Premier League weekend, the business end of baseball's World Series and Netflix's live darts night. This is the checklist to run now, so your TV, your streaming box and your TV guide agree with reality on the night. Your smart TV may be smart. Its clock settings are sometimes not.
The short version
- UK: clocks go back at 02:00 BST on Sunday 25 October, to 01:00 GMT (GOV.UK).
- EU: same night, same instant (01:00 UTC), so Paris and Berlin go from 03:00 CEST to 02:00 CET.
- US and most of Canada: clocks go back at 02:00 local time on Sunday 1 November (timeanddate).
- No change: UAE, India, most of Mexico including Mexico City (no DST since 2022), Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
- Already changed: New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT, Tasmania and South Australia moved forward on 4 October.
- The job: set every screen to automatic time and the right time zone, remove any manual guide offsets you added in summer, and do not schedule a recording inside the hour that happens twice.
What is confirmed, and what is still a politician's promise
The dates themselves are boringly solid. GOV.UK lists 25 October 2026 for the UK change and explains that the clocks go back one hour at 2am on the last Sunday in October. timeanddate lists 1 November 2026 at 02:00 local time for the US and the parts of Canada that still change, with Hawaii and most of Arizona sitting it out as usual.
Then there is the Sunshine Protection Act, a bill with the name of a sun cream and the travel speed of a glacier. Congress.gov shows it passed the House 308 to 117 on 14 July 2026 and was sent to the Senate Commerce Committee on 15 July. On 2 October, USA Today reported President Trump pressing Senate Republicans to move it. The Hill reports the Senate has adjourned for the midterms and is not due back until the week of 9 November, which is after 1 November. So the honest reading is: expect US clocks to fall back on 1 November as normal. If the Senate pulls off a surprise, I will update this page. Your TV box will not care either way, as long as its settings below are right.
Canada is a moving target this year. timeanddate reports that British Columbia stayed on permanent UTC-7 after March 2026, that Alberta brought in an Official Time Act on 18 June 2026 and will stay on UTC-6, and that Manitoba will remain on UTC-5. If you watch from those provinces, check your provincial government's notice, because your device's time zone database also has to know about the change. That is exactly the kind of small print that makes a sports start time wrong by an hour.
How the gaps move (the bit that confuses everyone)
| Between | Until Sat 24 Oct | Sun 25 Oct to Sat 31 Oct | From Sun 1 Nov |
|---|---|---|---|
| London and New York | 5 hours | 4 hours | 5 hours |
| London and Los Angeles | 8 hours | 7 hours | 8 hours |
| Paris or Berlin and New York | 6 hours | 5 hours | 6 hours |
| London and Dubai | 3 hours | 4 hours | 4 hours |
| London and India | 4h 30m | 5h 30m | 5h 30m |
| London and Sydney | 10 hours | 11 hours | 11 hours |
| New York and India | 9h 30m | 9h 30m | 10h 30m |
| New York and Sydney | 15 hours | 15 hours | 16 hours |
Fans in Sydney or Melbourne get the full fairground ride: the gap to London went from 9 to 10 hours on 4 October, goes to 11 on 25 October, and the gap to New York jumps on 1 November. Three changes in four weeks. Nobody in a marketing meeting would sign off on that user experience, yet here we are.
The live events inside the odd week
Times below are converted from the organisers' own published local times. Everything is subject to change by the organiser, so check the official listing on the day.
| Event | UK | CET | US ET | US PT | UAE | India | Sydney |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 US GP qualifying, Sat 24 Oct (16:00 Austin) | 22:00 BST | 23:00 CEST | 17:00 | 14:00 | 01:00 Sun | 02:30 Sun | 08:00 Sun |
| F1 US GP race, Sun 25 Oct (15:00 Austin) | 20:00 GMT | 21:00 | 16:00 | 13:00 | 00:00 Mon | 01:30 Mon | 07:00 Mon |
| Premier League: Chelsea v Man Utd, Sat 31 Oct | 12:30 GMT | 13:30 | 08:30 | 05:30 | 16:30 | 18:00 | 23:30 |
| F1 Mexico City GP qualifying, Sat 31 Oct (15:00 Mexico City) | 21:00 GMT | 22:00 | 17:00 EDT | 14:00 | 01:00 Sun | 02:30 Sun | 08:00 Sun |
| Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal, Sun 1 Nov | 16:30 GMT | 17:30 | 11:30 EST | 08:30 | 20:30 | 22:00 | 03:30 Mon |
| F1 Mexico City GP race, Sun 1 Nov (14:00 Mexico City) | 20:00 GMT | 21:00 | 15:00 EST | 12:00 | 00:00 Mon | 01:30 Mon | 07:00 Mon |
| Beat Luke Littler live on Netflix, Fri 30 Oct | Start time not confirmed by Netflix yet: convert it once it is published | ||||||
| World Series Games 6 and 7, Fri 30 and Sat 31 Oct (if needed) | Dates from MLB's schedule; start times not in the schedule I read, so check FOX or MLB listings | ||||||
Two things jump out. First, the US Grand Prix weekend straddles the UK change: qualifying is on summer time, the race is on winter time, so UK viewers see qualifying at 22:00 and the race at 20:00 the next day. Second, the Mexico City race lands on the very morning US clocks go back, and Mexico itself has not changed its clocks since 2022. Three countries, three different ideas of what Sunday means. Formula 1 is now an engineering sport and a time zone sport.
The Premier League says all kick-offs are BST up to and including Saturday 24 October and GMT from Sunday 25 October. For US fans, that means a 12:30 UK kick-off on 31 October is 08:30 Eastern, an hour later than the 07:30 you will get from November onwards. Enjoy the lie-in. It lasts exactly one Saturday.
The NFL's Sunday 1pm Eastern window does the reverse for viewers in Europe: on 25 October it starts at 17:00 in the UK (18:00 CET), and from 1 November it is back to 18:00 UK (19:00 CET). If you watch through your local NFL rights holder, the app should show the right time, provided your device's clock is right. Which brings us to the actual work.
Where it really goes wrong
1. The hour that happens twice
In the UK, 01:00 to 01:59 on 25 October happens twice: once on BST and once on GMT. In CET countries the repeat is 02:00 to 02:59, and in the US it is 01:00 to 01:59 local on 1 November. Any recording, timer or automation scheduled in that window is a coin toss on cheaper kit. If you need to record something overnight that weekend, start it before the repeat or after it, and check the recordings list the next morning.
2. A clock set by hand
Devices on automatic time handle all of this. Devices someone set manually back in 2023 because “the internet was down that day” will be wrong by an hour, and every app that trusts the system clock will be wrong with them. Check these now:
- Google TV and Android TV: Settings > System > Date & time (some models say Device Preferences > Date & time). Turn on automatic date and time and pick your city under Set time zone. Sony's own help page lists the menu variations by model.
- Fire TV: Settings > Preferences > Time Zone.
- Apple TV 4K: Settings > General > Date & Time, with Set Automatically on (Apple Support).
- Windows PC: Settings > Time & language > Date & time. Turn on Set time zone automatically, or if you pick the zone yourself, turn on Adjust for daylight saving time automatically (Microsoft Support).
- Phones: on iPhone, Settings > General > Date & Time > Set Automatically; on Android, it is usually under Settings > System > Date & time.
- Router: if your router runs parental controls or a bedtime Wi-Fi schedule, open its time settings and make sure it uses your named time zone rather than a fixed offset like UTC+1. Otherwise the kids' Wi-Fi may switch off an hour early, and you will hear about it.
3. The TV guide offset you forgot you set
This is the classic IPTV player trap. XMLTV, the format most guide feeds use, puts a time zone on every programme time, and its specification says UTC is assumed when none is given. A properly labelled feed needs no offset at all. But plenty of people “fixed” a wrongly labelled guide by adding +1:00 in summer, and that fix turns into a fault on 25 October.
- TiviMate: Settings > EPG > EPG sources, select the source, then look for the time offset. A single channel can have its own offset from the guide: long-press OK on the channel and open Channel options. Menu names shift between versions, so treat this as a map, not gospel. Members on the husham.com forum EPG offset thread found the source setting the same way, and another member reported setting it back to 0:00 once the provider's guide caught up after a clock change.
- Any player: write down your current offsets today. After 25 October, compare one channel's guide with a programme whose start time you know for certain from the broadcaster's own schedule. Only then touch the offset.
- Building your own guide? My walkthrough on making your own EPG list is the place to start, and always write the offset into the time stamp rather than fudging it in the app.
The usual rule applies: a player is an empty shell. Only feed it sources you are licensed to watch.
4. Reminders typed in the wrong time zone
If you copy a start time from an article into your calendar, the calendar assumes your current time zone. That is fine until a website says “20:00” without saying which 20:00. Use the app's own Remind Me button where it has one (Netflix offers it for live events), or set the calendar entry with the event's time zone. For the darts, my Beat Luke Littler on Netflix checklist covers the device and network side; the start time column above stays empty until Netflix actually publishes one.
Dated timeline
| When | Do this |
|---|---|
| This week (5 to 11 Oct) | Check automatic time and time zone on every TV, box, PC and router. Write down any manual EPG offsets. Update your streaming apps and firmware. |
| Week of 19 Oct | Look for Netflix's start time for 30 October and fill in your zone. Check your sports apps show the US GP weekend at the times in the table. |
| Sat 24 Oct | Last evening on summer time in the UK and EU. US GP qualifying 22:00 BST. Avoid scheduling overnight recordings in the repeated hour. |
| Sun 25 Oct | UK and EU change at 01:00 UTC. In the morning, glance at each device's clock and one channel's guide. US GP race 20:00 GMT, 16:00 ET. |
| Mon 26 to Sat 31 Oct | The odd week: four hours London to New York. Set reminders for 30 and 31 October with care. |
| Sun 1 Nov | US and most of Canada change at 02:00 local. Mexico City GP race 15:00 EST, 20:00 GMT. Liverpool v Arsenal 16:30 GMT, 11:30 EST. |
| Mon 2 Nov | Gaps back to normal. If your guide is off by an hour now, it was the offset, not the clocks. |
Who should care, and who can relax
If you watch your own country's channels on a box set to automatic time, you can mostly relax: the change happens while you sleep and you get an extra hour of it. The people who should run the checklist are fans following sport on the other side of the Atlantic, anyone with an IPTV player and a hand-tuned guide offset, anyone recording overnight on 25 October or 1 November, and families who call relatives abroad at “the usual time”. I have lived through this ritual in London since I was 11, and I got my MCSE in 2000. Not one exam question covered the US Senate.
And if your connection is the bigger worry than your clock, run a quick check on speedtest.husham.com at the same time of day you plan to watch, because Sunday evening Wi-Fi rarely matches Tuesday morning Wi-Fi.
Best IPTV boxes to buy
Every box below runs Android TV or Google TV, so the Date & time check above applies to each of them, and all are certified media boxes and sticks that can run players and licensed apps from Google Play. They are not pirate hardware. They do not come with channels or playlists. I am not claiming I personally lab-tested every SKU this month.
Buy one of these when: Fire TV sideload is a hassle on your model, you want Play Store apps on a proper TV OS, or you want a dedicated player shell behind the sofa. No Fire TV device is on this shortlist.
- NVIDIA SHIELD TV Pro: the premium pick, a certified Android TV player with AI upscaling, Dolby Vision/Atmos and Gigabit Ethernet for the main living-room telly. Amazon UK | Amazon US | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT
- Google TV Streamer 4K: solid Google TV living-room default with Ethernet, 32GB storage and Dolby Vision/Atmos. Amazon UK | Amazon US | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT
- Xiaomi TV Box S (3rd Gen): Google TV box with 32GB storage, Wi-Fi 6 and Dolby Vision/Atmos, the cheaper box route than the Streamer. Amazon UK | Amazon US | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT
- Xiaomi TV Stick 4K (2nd Gen): budget Google TV stick with Wi-Fi 6 and Dolby Vision/Atmos when you want HDMI-simple, not a full box. Amazon UK | Amazon US | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT
- Strong LEAP-NOVA: Google TV certified 4K stick on Android 14 with 32GB storage, Wi-Fi 6 and Dolby Vision, for a second telly. Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT
- MECOOL MEon1: Google TV certified 4K box with AI upscaling and 32GB storage for a dedicated player behind the sofa. Amazon UK
Still shopping for a Fire TV device? Fine for Prime Video and the Appstore universe. Not the shortlist above. And none of these boxes magically make unlicensed streams legal.
The bottom line
The clock change is not a crisis, it is a small print problem. Put every screen on automatic time, clear out the summer guide offsets, keep recordings away from the repeated hour, and convert start times from the organiser's own listing rather than a screenshot on social media. Do that this week and the only thing that changes on 25 October is that you get an extra hour in bed. Then another one on 1 November, if you are in the US. Some people get all the luck.
Written by Dr Husham Memar
