Purpose and scope
The M3U.co.uk public stream directory is intended to help users discover public playlist sources for lawful playback, technical testing and format education. It does not provide credentials, subscription access, DRM bypasses or instructions for circumventing access controls. We do not host the underlying video streams.
What “public” means here
For directory purposes, “public” means that an external playlist source is published openly and described by its maintainer as containing publicly available stream URLs. That classification is a discovery signal, not a legal conclusion about every individual stream. A broadcaster can impose geographic, contractual or platform-specific limits even when a URL is reachable without a login.
Source selection
Phase 3 uses a source-first model. We index stable country, category and language playlist endpoints from an established public repository instead of mirroring thousands of changing stream URLs. We favour public-service, informational and general-interest categories and exclude adult-oriented directory categories.
Review process
At build time we verify the documented playlist URL pattern, record the upstream source, mark the review date and check that our own page accurately distinguishes playlist syntax from stream availability. Static Phase 3 pages do not claim that any individual channel is currently online.
Rights and broadcaster verification
Users should verify important streams against the broadcaster or rights holder’s official website. If a stream requires account credentials, payment, geo-control circumvention or other access-control bypass, it is outside the intended use of this directory.
Removal requests
Broadcasters and rights holders can request removal of a M3U.co.uk directory link through the process described on our Copyright page. M3U.co.uk can remove its own link independently of the upstream repository.
Future live monitoring
Continuous checks, uptime percentages and historical availability are deliberately excluded from Phase 3. If introduced later, those metrics will be generated by server-side monitoring and will clearly state the check method, interval and limitations.
Explore our other standards
See how public sources, testing, corrections and editorial decisions are handled.
Monitoring does not change rights status
Phase 4 adds recurring technical availability checks to source playlists and discovered HTTP/HTTPS endpoints. A successful check means only that the M3U.co.uk monitoring server received a network response. It does not create, verify or transfer a licence to view or redistribute the content. Broadcaster terms, territorial restrictions and applicable law remain separate from technical reachability.
Restricted responses are preserved as a distinct state, and public status pages link back to this policy and the testing methodology.