Quick start (Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit only)

1. Download Clearstream-1.0.0-windows-x64.zip from the latest release.
2. Right-click the zip, choose Extract All…, and open the extracted Clearstream folder.
3. Double-click Clearstream.exe. If Windows says "Windows protected your PC", click More info → Run anyway (the app isn't code-signed). Nothing else to install.

A small TV player for Windows. It shows legitimate free channels, grouped into Football, Tennis, Cricket and News, plus any paid IPTV service you add later. Video plays through VLC's playback engine (libVLC), the same engine as the VLC media player, so the hard part, smooth playback, is handled by proven software rather than something home-made.

Why it's built this way: Python + libVLC gives a reliable, widely used playback engine with only one small add-on package (VideoLAN's official python-vlc). There's very little to install, and little that could go wrong or be tampered with.

Follow the Quick start above. The download includes everything Clearstream needs, including VLC's playback engine, so you don't need Python or VLC installed. Keep the extracted folder together: Clearstream.exe needs the files beside it. You can put the folder anywhere, for example Documents\Clearstream, and pin Clearstream.exe to Start or the taskbar.

Each release lists a SHA-256 checksum. If you want to confirm your download is the genuine file, run this in PowerShell and compare the result:

Get-FileHash .\Clearstream-1.0.0-windows-x64.zip

You need two free programs from their official websites. Download them only from the addresses below; ignore "download" buttons on any other site.

1. Python: go to https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/, download the newest "Windows installer (64-bit)" for Python 3.12 or 3.13, and run it. On the first screen, tick "Add python.exe to PATH", then click Install Now.
2. VLC: go to https://www.videolan.org, click Download VLC (the 64-bit Windows version is the default), run it and accept the defaults.
3. Clearstream: download this repository (Code → Download ZIP, then extract it), open the folder and double-click Setup.bat. A black window checks Python and VLC, installs the one add-on, and puts a Clearstream icon on your desktop. When it says All done, press any key.
4. Start it: double-click the Clearstream icon on your desktop (or Start Clearstream.bat).

If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC" for Setup.bat, click More info → Run anyway. Setup.bat is a plain text file; you can open it in Notepad and read every line.

Clearstream checks which free channels are working, which takes about a minute. The video area shows the progress, and working channels move to the top of each list as they pass. You can start watching straight away.

What the Status column means

• ● Live: checked in the last few hours and working.
• ✕ Offline: didn't work when checked (greyed out, at the bottom of the list). It's still clickable, because channels sometimes come back.
• · Not checked: not tested yet.

When the app opens, it checks all free channels in the background (about 1–2 minutes). The checker loads a real piece of video, not just the channel's address, so channels that are blocked in your country also show as Offline.

What happens when a stream drops:

1. VLC keeps about 15 seconds of video in reserve, so short internet hiccups don't interrupt anything.
2. If the picture stops, Clearstream reconnects by itself (after 2, 5, then 10 seconds).
3. If the channel has backup streams, it switches to the next one automatically.
4. Once a channel has been playing, it keeps trying for up to 3 minutes before giving up. It never marks a channel Offline just because your internet dropped.

The status line under the video always says what's happening, e.g. "Switching to backup stream 2 of 3…".

Programme guide (Now / Next): shown under the video and in the On now column wherever the source provides one. Paid services usually do (it's loaded automatically). The free channels mostly don't: the free list has no guide data. You can add a guide address yourself with Sources → Add programme guide.

Only add a service you actually pay for. Your provider gives you one of these:

A) An M3U playlist address (a long link, often ending in .m3u or containing get.php) → Sources → Add paid playlist (M3U web address)…, give it a name, paste the link, Save.

B) An Xtream login (a server address, username and password) → Sources → Add paid service (Xtream login)…, fill in the four boxes, Save.

C) A playlist file you downloaded from your provider's own website → Sources → Add paid playlist (M3U file on this PC)…

The channels appear in the same Football / Tennis / Cricket / News groups after a few seconds. Anything that isn't sport or news goes into a group called Other. The provider's programme guide loads automatically.

• Your link, username and password are encrypted with your Windows account (Windows' built-in DPAPI) and are only ever sent to your provider.
• Clearstream tries an encrypted (https) connection first. Sources → Manage my sources shows whether your provider's connection is encrypted. Many IPTV providers only offer plain http; that's on their side.
• Many providers allow only 1–2 connections at once, so paid channels are not checked automatically. "Check channels in this list now" checks them slowly, one at a time, after asking you.
• To remove a service: Sources → Manage my sources → Remove selected.

Free, legal live coverage of news is excellent. Free, legal live coverage of top-level football, tennis and cricket is thin, because the big leagues and tournaments sell their rights to pay services. Here is what the free list gave on 20 October 2026, checked from this PC:

Legitimate free sources this app can't play. They use their own apps and websites, not IPTV links, and that's the legal way to watch them:

• UK: BBC iPlayer (Wimbledon, some football and international tournaments; a TV licence is needed for live BBC), ITVX, Channel 4.
• Australia: 9Now (Australian Open), 7plus (home cricket internationals), ABC iview, SBS On Demand.
• India / Pakistan / Bangladesh: the national broadcasters (DD / PTV / BTV) on terrestrial TV, and their official apps.

Low-cost legal ways to fill the gaps. TV rights change most seasons, so check which service holds the competition you want in your country before paying:

• Football: UK: Sky Sports (cheaper as a NOW monthly or day pass) and TNT Sports for the Premier League. US: Peacock (Premier League), Paramount+ (Champions League). Middle East: beIN (TOD app). Elsewhere: look up "Premier League broadcast partners" on premierleague.com.
• Tennis: Tennis TV (the ATP's own streaming service, all tour events) is the best-value option. The Grand Slams are on your local rights holder (free on BBC for Wimbledon in the UK, and on 9Now for the Australian Open in Australia).
• Cricket: India: JioHotstar. US/Canada: Willow. UK: Sky Sports Cricket (via NOW). Australia: Kayo/Foxtel, plus free Seven/7plus for home internationals. The ICC's own ICC.tv streams some events free.

Most of these are apps or websites rather than IPTV playlists, so you'd watch them in their own app. If a legitimate provider does give you an M3U or Xtream login, add it as described in section 3.

Avoid "free sports IPTV" playlists, "lifetime" IPTV subscriptions and sites asking you to install a special player. Those are the pirated feeds full of malware and trackers that you mentioned.

• No ads, no tracking, no accounts, no telemetry. It only connects to:

  1. iptv-org.github.io, the public channel list (once a day, over https);
  2. the TV streams you watch or that the checker tests;
  3. any paid service or programme guide you add.

• It never downloads or runs programs. Playlists are read as plain text: only channel names, a few labels and video addresses are used. Hidden player commands inside playlists (which can, for example, write files to disk) are ignored. Only http/https video addresses are accepted, never local files or other link types. VLC's built-in scripting engine is switched off, and VLC is told not to look anything up online.

• The free list is filtered beyond iptv-org's own blocklist. iptv-org lists any public stream, and on inspection its sports section mixes official free channels with pirate copies of beIN, Sky Sports, Star Sports, ESPN and others. Clearstream removes:

  • pay-TV sports brands entirely (they are never legitimately free);
  • links that use a bare IP address or unencrypted http;
  • hosts known for restreaming or relays.

  Sports channels must also come from the video platforms that official free channels and broadcasters use. This is a careful filter, not a legal guarantee, but every sports channel that gets through is a recognisable official free channel.

• https everywhere it's possible, with full certificate checks. Downloads can't be redirected to an insecure address, and every download has a size limit.

• One add-on package, python-vlc from the official Python Package Index, installed with a pinned file hash so a tampered copy is refused. No other third-party code. No bundled installers.

• Your data stays on your PC: settings and caches are in %APPDATA%\Clearstream. Paid-service details are encrypted with your Windows account. The cache files use scrambled names, so private links aren't written in readable form.

To uninstall: delete the Clearstream folder, the desktop icon, and %APPDATA%\Clearstream (paste that into the File Explorer address bar). Python and VLC can be removed from Windows Settings → Apps.

Technical log: Help → Open log folder (the file clearstream.log).

Clearstream is free software under the MIT licence. The downloadable app also bundles libVLC (LGPL/GPL), python-vlc (LGPL) and Python (PSF licence); their licences and source links are in the licences folder inside the download.

To build the download yourself: install 64-bit Python and VLC, then run python tools/build_release.py in this folder. It creates dist/Clearstream-<version>-windows-x64.zip using hash-pinned build tools (requirements-build.txt).