This brief article explains how to enhance an existing OSMC (or Kodi) installation by the addition of TV channel logos. Anyone who uses OSMC/Kodi for watching live TV might find it useful

A procedure for building your own OSMC server is explained in my accompanying article How to Watch and Record Live TV with a Raspberry Pi. You might have followed that procedure and be looking to add channel logos. Or you might have an existing OSMC setup. The procedure below should apply in either case. Special notes are included below for users who are running straight Kodi rather than OSMC.

The logo packs described are for Freeview and Freesat channels in the the UK. If you are not a Freeview or Freesat user, the installation process is the same, but you will need to source logo packs appropriate to the channels you are receiving.

How Logos Work

Channel logos are stored in separate files, one file per logo. OSMC/Kodi will display the Logo whose file name corresponds to the name of the channel of interest. For example, if I highlight a channel in the EPG called “BBC TWO“, the system will display the contents of the log file called “BBC TWO.png“. Logo files are stored in a specific folder, for example /home/osmc/Logos. If no corresponding log file exists, OSMC/Kodi will display a blank.

Download Channel Logos

We will use logo packs prepared by the NextPVR project. The latest pack was revised in 2018 and provides logos for most Freeview/FreeSat channels, including local stations. Download the logo pack as follows. Surf to the Channel Logos page. Scroll down to the link entitled “Download:FreeViewSatLogos.zip“. Click on it to save. A zip file will be downloaded (approx size 6 MB).

Note: If you are a contributor to these logos or a copyright owner, and you would rather this page did not provide a link, please leave a comment below and I will be in touch.

Install Channel Logos

By default, OSMC expects to find channel logos in the directory /home/osmc/Logos. Put the file zip file (called FreeViewSatLogos.zip) into /home/osmc on your OSMC server and unzip it. A directory called “FreeViewSatLogos” will be created. Move the folder into place:

osmc@osmc:~$ cd
osmc@osmc:~$ unzip FreeViewSatLogos.zip
osmc@osmc:~$ mv FreeViewSatLogos Logos

Note for Kodi users only: By default, Kodi has no Logo directory configured. Proceed as follows to configure one. First, unpack the zip file as above, choosing an appropriate location. For example, on a Raspberry Pi, you could unzip the logo files into a folder called /home/pi/Logos. In the Kodi interface, select Settings -> PVR and Live TV -> Menu/OSD -> Folder with channel icons. In the window that appears, browse to the directory where you unzipped the files and press [Return] to select it. Channel logos should then start to be displayed.

Test Logos

OSMC should start to display the new channel logos immediately. Bring up the EPG by pressing “E” or similar. You should see a channel logo at the bottom left corresponding to the currently highlighted channel. As you more around the interface, the logos appear in other places, eg. the channel list and home screen. NB these remarks apply to the Estuary skin. Different skins display logos in slightly different ways.

If you can’t see any logos being displayed, try restarting the system (eg. a Raspberry Pi). On the home screen, select the power button and then “Exit” or “Reboot” from the menu that appears (Estuary skin).

Other Logo Sources

Other logo packs are available. If the above link does not work, or you would simply like an alternative, check out the logos provided by Kodi forum user Piers. They are not as up-to-date, being last revised in 2015, and do not cover so quite so many channels, but are an excellent resource. (Direct link here).

To install, save the zip file as above. It is called “FreeviewDH_Logos_SE_England.zip”. Upload it to your OSMC server (eg. a Raspberry Pi) then unzip to install. Note the zip file does not create a sub-folder. Logo files are unpacked to the current directory. For example, below, the existing Logo directory (if any) is moved to “Logos.old”, a new “Logos” filter is created, in which the new logo set is then unpacked:

osmc@osmc:~$ cd
osmc@osmc:~$ mv Logos Logos.old
osmc@osmc:~$ mkdir Logos
osmc@osmc:~$ cd Logos
osmc@osmc:~$ unzip FreeviewDH_Logos_SE_England.zip

The new logos should start to display immediately. If not, restart the system as above.

Merging Logo Sets

Multiple logo archives can be unpacked into the same target directory. For example, by For example, by unzipping both of the above files, 262 channel logos could be made available to OSMC/Kodi: 203 from the first file and 119 from the second. (The second file is unzipped without overwriting existing files of the same name with “unzip” followed by “N”).

osmc@osmc:~$ unzip  ../FreeviewDH_Logos_SE_England.zip 
 Archive:  ../FreeviewDH_Logos_SE_England.zip
 replace QVC.png? [y]es, [n]o, [A]ll, [N]one, [r]ename: N
  extracting: Rocks And Co 1.png      
...

Logos are thus provided for a greater variety of channels, though the styles might differ slightly.