OrbitTv/docs/VERIFICATION-0.99.5.md

Orbit TV 0.99.5: catalogue-size hybrid for Rewind, Dark Files and Vortex

Approved by Paul on 4 November 2026 at 08:42 and 09:09, following the repeat investigation (docs/replays/repeat-investigation-2026-11-04.md). The change is to scheduling only. The code went in with commit 0f7ce59, alongside a roadmap edit, and this release builds and verifies it. It includes 0.99.4.

What's in it

• ChannelProgramming.catalogueScaleHours. On a weighted channel, a show with fewer hours of playable episodes than this has its tier's weight scaled by its size. For example, a core show with 12 hours counts as 1.5 instead of 3. Every show keeps at least 2% of its tier's weight (MIN_CATALOGUE_SCALE), so it still comes round. Big shows keep their full tier.
• Rewind is weighted with RewindTiers (the brief's ten core shows) and the hybrid at 24 hours.
• Dark Files is weighted with DarkFilesTiers and the hybrid. Its core is the brief's seven shows: Forensic Files, Cold Case Files, Snapped, Unsolved Mysteries, Most Haunted, Ghost Adventures and Paranormal Witness. The tier proposal had wrongly made "Haunted" core, because its name sits inside "Most Haunted". It's supporting.
• Vortex keeps 0.99.4's tiers, now with the hybrid at 24 hours.
• Unchanged: episode choice (each show's own cursor or shuffle deck), dayparts, events, presentation keys, committed bookings, and every other channel.

Checks before install

• 411 unit tests pass, including the hand-run replays on box copies taken at 09:12. Lint has no errors.
• New unit test (WeightedRotationTest): a short catalogue's weight is scaled by its size, with the floor in place. In four weeks among ten big shows, a twelve-episode core show's weekly repeats fall from 104 to 37, and it still airs. The configuration test also checks that exactly 15 channels are weighted and exactly 204, 601 and 604 use the hybrid, and that Haunted is supporting.
• Four-week real-pool replay (docs/replays/weighted-rollout-replay-0.99.5.txt). It compares today's equal turns with 0.99.5, avoiding every other channel's plans as the box does:

Channel	Core airtime	Same file within 7 days	Different episodes	Never aired / longest wait	Twice running / 3-hour bursts
Rewind	66% → 77%	165 → 0	1,857 → 1,577	none, 23.5 d → none, 2.9 d	28 / 261 → 0 / 0
Dark Files	17% → 26%	0 → 0	876 → 984	Dark Tourist, 28 d → none, 11.3 d	1 / 1 → 0 / 0
Vortex	40% → 49%	0 → 0 (0.99.4 alone: 95)	1,729 → 1,705	6 anime never aired, 28 d → none, about 27 d for its 13-episode anime	1 / 0 → 0 / 0

• Every run:
  • no file aired again within 24 hours
  • no in-order show stepping back and no shuffled show leaving its deck
  • no gaps and nothing outside its block
  • no programme on another channel at the same time
  • committed programmes came through exactly
• Restarts: a save and reload every 18 hours gave the identical four weeks on all three channels.
• Fingerprints (docs/replays/replay-fingerprints-0.99.5.txt): every committed fingerprint is identical to 0.99.4's. Only 204, 601 and 604 differ.

Known limits

• Rewind's variety: its distinct episodes over four weeks fall from 1,857 to 1,577, because its core shows get more of the airtime, as the brief asks.
• Vortex's tiny anime come round roughly monthly.
• On air from about 10 November, when each channel's committed plan runs out, ahead of the coordinated cutover.

Rollback

Install 0.99.4, or 0.99.3, which is what's on the box now.