# How does a display decide what is playing?

Each display answers this question for every moment in the same fixed order. Once you know it, you can explain any surprising picture in a few seconds.

> **Type:** concept
> **For:** everyone who assigns programs or wants to know why a display shows something other than expected
> **Prerequisite:** a paired display in your organization
> **Where in the portal:** **Displays** › a display › **Playback** tab

## Three questions, always in the same order

First, the system checks whether an **override** is running right now: the manual intervention through the **Show something else now** card. If one is running, its content applies and nothing else. Neither a program entry nor the base program can overrule it. That is exactly why this card looks like an intervention in the portal and, as long as it is in effect, carries the heading **Override is running**.

If none is running, the display’s **assignment** counts. If a **program** is assigned to it, the program entry whose time window is currently running applies. If none applies, the **base program** runs. If several entries overlap, a fixed priority rule decides. If a scene, a playlist, or a media item is assigned to the display directly, however, that content runs continuously, without a weekly plan and without changes.

If nothing at all is assigned, the display shows the **placeholder screen** with your organization’s brand. The fleet then says **Nothing scheduled**, and the card in the **Playback** tab reports **No program assigned**. There is no organization-wide fallback content that steps in here: What a display should show, you tell it.

Finally, the content that was found is resolved. A **scene** runs directly. For a **playlist**, the element of the rotation that is due runs. For an [automatic playlist](/docs/programs/automatic-playlists), this is the sequence currently resolved from the source, not a stored order. That is why the content of a folder or a tag changes on the display without your doing. A **media item** runs in an endless loop. If the content is **off air**, the display stays blank as planned and states the time when it continues. That is a decision, not a fault.

![The decision path of a display: first the question of a running override, then of the assignment, for a program the program entry in effect, otherwise the base program, without an assignment the placeholder screen, and at the end the resolution into a scene, a playlist element, a media item, or off air.](/docs/getting-started/bilder/d754ac78-playback-decision.svg)

*Override beats program entry, program entry beats base program.*

## The same calculation as a timeline

The **Playback timeline** in the same tab shows this decision for a whole day as a bar, divided into **Playing**, **Broadcast pause**, and **Nothing scheduled**. A click on a section opens **Period**, **Content**, and the origin: **from a program entry** or **from the base program**.

**Show composition** unfolds the bar into **What the sections are made of**: the lanes **Override**, **Program entries**, and **Base program** stacked, with the lane **Result** below them. This tells you which layer won at which point.

## What follows

- An unexpected picture almost always has one of three causes: a forgotten override, a missing assignment, or a program entry whose window is currently in effect.
- An override does not end on its own if you chose **Permanent**. It stays until someone clicks **End override**.
- A dark display is not automatically a defect. If **Broadcast pause** is shown with it, everything runs as planned.
- If two displays should show different things, they need two programs. A display carries exactly one assignment.

## Related

- [Which program entry wins when entries overlap?](/docs/programs/about-priorities)
- [Show something else now (override)](/docs/programs/start-override)
- [Check what a display is showing now and will show today](/docs/displays/check-now-playing)