Channel Surfer brings retro TV guide experience to YouTube

London-based developer Steven Irby has launched Channel Surfer, a web app that presents YouTube videos in a retro-looking TV guide interface. The product is designed to combat algorithmic indecision by offering a linear viewing experience, allowing users to browse topic-focused channels and join videos mid-stream. Irby, a 40-year-old tech industry veteran, explained that he built the platform because he was tired of algorithms and the fatigue of constantly deciding what to watch. The app gained immediate traction, drawing more than 10,000 views on its first day. At launch, the free service offers 175 YouTube channels, 25 music playlists, and 40 custom-built channels covering topics such as news, sports, and technology.

Under the hood, Channel Surfer is, for now, a static site—a website that serves pre-built files—built with Next.js, a web framework, and PartyKit, a real-time infrastructure tool. The application is hosted on Cloudflare. To keep the system running without a dedicated back end, a script runs daily via GitHub Actions to refresh the hand-picked channel data. Irby, who spent over a decade traveling, built the project as an alternative to corporate software development. “I have so much creativity from my long, weird journey. I can’t bear the thought of being a Jira ticket monkey anymore,” said developer Steven Irby. He added that he is obsessed with showing that the old web is still alive, rather than buried under modern digital clutter.

The interface allows users to view programming schedules planned for the next 24 hours and see a live counter of how many other people are watching. While the app currently runs on web browsers, mobile devices, and tablets, Irby eventually plans to bring the service to dedicated TV platforms, stating he would love to launch on Fire TV and Google TV. Additionally, users who subscribe to Irby’s newsletter can import their own YouTube subscriptions into the platform using a bookmarklet tool, integrating their personal feeds directly into the linear guide format.

Why it matters

Channel Surfer attempts to solve “indecision fatigue” on YouTube by presenting content in a linear, retro-style TV guide interface, mimicking the experience of traditional cable television.