Someone turned YouTube into a retro TV guide – relive channel-surfing nostalgia

Trying to decide what to watch on the best streaming services or YouTube often feels like a chore. There are millions of videos, endless recommendations, and a feed that constantly nudges you toward whatever the almighty algorithm thinks you should see next.

Enter Channel Surfer – a new web app that takes a completely different approach, by making YouTube feel like old-school cable TV.

Created by London-based developer Steven Irby, the free site presents YouTube videos inside a retro-style TV guide interface. Instead of choosing a specific video, you simply flip between themed channels, tuning in to whatever happens to be playing at that moment.

At launch, the app offers around 40 curated channels, covering genres like news, sports, lifestyle, gaming, and tech, along with several music channels and playlists. There are also more niche options, including  AI, coding, space, and retro tech.

Just like traditional TV, when you switch channels, you join the video mid-stream, and the on-screen guide shows what’s coming up next across the lineup. You can even scroll ahead to see programming scheduled for the next 24 hours – though you can’t click on future content and skip ahead to watching it.

The whole thing is designed to recreate the oddly comforting experience of mindlessly channel surfing, and Irby says the idea came from frustration with modern recommendation systems and the endless choice they create.

“I built Channel Surfer because I’m tired of the algorithms and indecision fatigue,” he told TechCrunch. “I miss channel surfing and not having to decide what to watch.”

There’s also a social element baked in. A small counter at the bottom of the interface shows how many other people are currently watching the same stream as you.

Under the hood, Channel Surfer runs on daily updates pulling from a hand-picked list of YouTube videos and music playlists. The channels themselves simply embed YouTube videos, meaning ads still appear, and the service doesn’t interfere with YouTube’s normal playback rules.

The app launched with 175 YouTube channels and 25 music playlists, and it seems to be a hit, attracting more than 10,000 visitors on its first l day alone.

If you want to take things further, there’s even a way to import your own YouTube subscriptions into the guide, effectively turning the site into a personalised TV lineup of your favourite creators and channels.

It’s nothing life-changing, sure. But if you want to while away a few hours over the weekend or your lunch break, you could do far worse.

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