# Schedule time off air

At the end, the display stays empty at planned times — at night, on an inventory day, outside opening hours. The device keeps running and keeps reporting in.

> **Type:** guide
> **For:** Anyone who plans times without content instead of switching off a display.
> **Prerequisite:** The permission to edit programs — by default, the roles **Owner** and **Manager** have it. In addition, a created program.
> **Where in the portal:** **Programs** › program › program entry › **Content** › **Off air** tab

## Steps

### Off air as a program entry

1. Open the program and create a program entry — by dragging in the weekly plan or through the **Program entry** button.
2. In the **Content** section, click **Change** and switch to the fourth tab, **Off air**. It says: “The display deliberately stays dark during this time. This has nothing to do with a fault or maintenance.”
3. Click **Choose off air**.
4. Set the **Time** and **Repeat** as for any other entry. For a store's night, that is for example `20:00 – 08:00` daily. The dialog adds **The window ends on the following day.**
5. Click **Save**. The portal reports **Program entry saved**.

### Off air as the base program

6. If the display should stay dark in the normal case and show something only at planned times, turn it around: click **Change** in the **Base program** card, switch to the **Off air** tab under **What should normally run?**, and click **Choose off air**. The portal confirms with **Base program changed**.

A freshly created program starts with the base program **Off air** anyway — until you replace it.

![The content choice in the program entry dialog on the fourth tab, Off air: the tab next to Scenes, Playlists, and Media (1), the explanatory text “The display deliberately stays dark during this time …” (2), and the Choose off air button (3)](/docs/programs/bilder/e34219ca-off-air-tab.png)

*1 Off air tab · 2 Explanatory text · 3 Choose off air button*

## Options

### Off air, maintenance, panel off

Four states are easily mixed up when a display does not show its usual content. They have different causes.

| What | Who sets it | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| **Off air** | You, in the program | The display stays empty for the planned window, with a resume time. The device keeps running, keeps fetching content, and keeps reporting in. |
| **Maintenance** | The platform operator | Announced work on the system. A banner with the planned period appears in the portal, and a narrow strip appears on the display. Playback continues. |
| Maintenance on the device | The device itself | Update, restart, or rollback to the previous version. A restart can be triggered by hand through [remote maintenance](/docs/displays/remote-maintenance). |
| **Turn screen off** | You, in the display's record | The panel goes on standby and is dark. The device keeps running. See [Adjust a display’s picture and power](/docs/displays/adjust-picture). |

An off-air period is purely a planning statement. It switches off no device, restarts nothing, and triggers no update. The difference from switching off: off air leaves the display on and shows planned emptiness, whereas switching off darkens the panel. On the device, it can be neither turned off nor skipped — it is changed only here in the program.

## Check the result

- In the weekly plan, the entry appears as a block in the color of the content kind **Off air**.
- On the display, a calm full-screen state appears in the window with the words **Off air** and the sentence “This display is planned to be empty. Playback starts again at HH:MM.” The time is the end of the window. It comes from the state the device already has. No network is needed for it.
- In the fleet, the display's tile carries the words **Broadcast pause** instead of a preview, and the status stays **Online**.
- On the display's **Playback timeline**, the section appears as **Broadcast pause**, next to **Playing** and **Nothing scheduled**.
- When the window is over, playback restarts on its own.

## If something goes wrong

| Symptom | Meaning | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| The display shows **Off air** although it should run | An off-air period is planned for this time — as a program entry or as the base program. | Open the responsible entry in the weekly plan and change its window or pause it through **Do not play for now**. If the base program is the cause, replace it through **Change**. |
| The display stays empty, but without the words **Off air** | That is not an off-air period. | See [When a display does not show what it should](/docs/displays/troubleshooting). |
| The stated time is missing on the display | No resume time could be read. | Not an error. The first sentence stands alone, and the window still ends as planned. |
| The display still counts as **Online** although nothing is running | That is by design: off air changes nothing about operation. | Nothing to do. |

## Related

- [Create, edit, pause, or delete a program entry](/docs/programs/create-program-entry)
- [Adjust a display’s picture and power](/docs/displays/adjust-picture)
- [What a display can show](/docs/devices/what-display-shows)