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Who this checklist is for and what it settles
This is for directors of operations, district managers and general managers at restaurant groups, franchise systems and any business running screens in more than one location. A TV opening and closing checklist turns the TVs from something each opener figures out alone into a routine that looks the same in every location, whether that is your flagship or the newest site.
The cost of skipping it shows up at the worst moment. It is 6:15 on a Friday, the dining room is filling, and three screens are on the wrong input. One shows a frozen guide. The bartender is hunting for a remote that went home in someone's apron. None of it is a hardware problem. It is a process problem, and it repeats across every location that lacks a standard.
By the end of this page you should be able to decide:
- Which TV steps are fixed chainwide and which are left to each location
- Who owns the screens on each shift
- Whether displays power down overnight, and what stays on
- What gets logged, and who gets called when something is wrong
The daily TV startup routine
The opening routine should fit inside normal opening duties and be finished before the first guest sits down. Assign it to one named role, usually the opening manager, rather than "whoever gets there first."
- Walk the room before the lights come up. Look at every screen location. Note anything dark, damaged or moved since close.
- Bring up equipment in a set order. Where your setup allows, start the receivers or streaming boxes before the displays. Many teams find this cuts down on blank screens and wrong-input surprises.
- Confirm the input on every display. A screen that shows "no signal" is often just on the wrong input after a cleaning crew or a stray button press.
- Tune from the channel map, not from memory. Each screen gets the channel assigned for the opening time block. A shared bar TV channel map template keeps this consistent across shifts and sites.
- Set captions to policy. Most dining-room and bar screens run better with captions on and sound off. Our notes on closed captions in restaurants and bars cover where sound belongs.
- Set audio to the house level. One sound source per zone, at the standard volume, and background music confirmed if you run it alongside TV audio.
- Check the picture on each screen. Look for frozen frames, pixelation or an on-screen message. If a message appears, write down the exact wording or code before doing anything else.
- Account for every remote. Count them, test them, and put them back in their assigned spot.
- Sign the log. Initials, time, and any issue found. A clean morning is still worth recording.
On a big event day
Add a second pass about an hour before the event: confirm the event programming is tuned on the assigned screens, test sound in the zone that gets it, and brief the floor staff on which screens are locked. For anything larger than a regular game day, plan further out using an event-week TV planning timeline.
The shift change and closing shutdown
Most problems that ruin a morning start the night before. A clean shutdown means the next opener starts from a known state instead of guessing.
At shift change
- Switch screens to the next time block on the channel map.
- Hand off remotes by count, not by assumption.
- Pass along any open issue verbally and in the log, including whether support has already been contacted.
At close
- Return every screen to its default channel and input. Pick one default per screen and keep it the same chainwide where layouts allow.
- Reset volume to the standard level so tomorrow's first screen does not blast the room.
- Power down displays according to your policy. Treat receivers separately; whether they stay powered overnight is a question for your provider, not something to guess at.
- Collect and store remotes in a locked drawer or a single labeled bin.
- Handle outdoor screens according to your patio procedure, including covers if you use them.
- Log anything unresolved and escalate it before leaving. An issue reported at close can be in the queue before the morning crew arrives. An issue mentioned only in passing tends to surface again at the lunch rush.
What to standardize chainwide and what to leave local
The point of a multi-site standard is consistency without pretending every building is the same. A useful rule: standardize the process, and let locations own the choices that depend on their room and their guests.
| Item | Standardize chainwide | Leave to each location |
|---|---|---|
| Order of startup and shutdown steps | Yes | No |
| Log format and where it lives | Yes | No |
| Escalation path and who to call | Yes | No |
| Caption and audio policy by zone type | Yes | Fine-tuning by room |
| Default channel and input at close | Yes, where layouts match | Exceptions noted on the site record |
| Remote storage and count | Yes | Exact storage spot |
| Programming for local teams and events | Framework only | Yes |
| Patio and seasonal screen timing | Framework only | Yes |
The chainwide items belong in your operations manual next to your equipment spec. If you have already written a franchise TV equipment standard, the checklist is its daily companion: the spec says what hangs on the wall, the checklist says how it is run.
Local exceptions only work if they are written down. Keep a one-page record for each location showing every screen, its receiver and its default channel, as described in our multi-location TV documentation template. When a district manager visits, the checklist and the site record together tell them whether the location is running to standard.
Trade-offs to decide up front
There is no single right answer to most of these. There is only a decision you make once, write down and apply everywhere.
Displays off overnight or left on. Powering down saves energy and reduces wear on panels. Leaving them on avoids startup time and the settings drift some displays show after a full power cycle. Many groups split the difference: displays off, source equipment handled per provider guidance.
Staff-run or centrally managed. In most restaurants, staff run the screens with remotes. Some setups allow a central team to schedule channels or push changes to many screens at once. Central control reduces variation between sites but adds a dependency on that system and the people who run it. Staff control is flexible but only as consistent as your training.
Printed or digital checklist. Paper on the closet door gets used because it is visible. A digital form gives operations a chainwide view of which sites completed the routine and which issues keep recurring. Larger groups often use both: paper for the steps, digital for the log.
Strict or flexible programming. A tight channel map keeps the brand consistent. A looser one lets a GM put the hometown game on the big screen without asking permission. Most operators lock the framework and allow named exceptions.
Common mistakes that undo a good checklist
- Steps without owners. "Check the TVs" is not a task. "Opening manager confirms inputs and channels by 10:30" is.
- No channel map. "Put the game on" produces a different room every shift.
- Remote sprawl. Spare remotes from old installs, mismatched brands and no count at close. Retire the extras and label the rest by screen.
- A log nobody reads. If issues are written down but never reviewed, staff stop writing them. Someone at the district or regional level should scan logs weekly for repeat problems.
- One checklist forced onto every layout. A bar-forward location and a quieter dining-only site need the same process with different defaults. Capture those differences on the site record instead of rewriting the checklist.
- Training once. Turnover in restaurants means the person opening next month may never have seen the routine. Build it into onboarding and shift-lead training.
- Troubleshooting by guesswork. Staff pressing buttons until something changes can make a simple issue harder to diagnose. Write the on-screen message down, check our error code reference, and call support.
What to ask your provider
Your checklist is only as good as the support behind it. These questions separate a provider that helps you run screens from one that only sells service:
- Should our receivers stay powered overnight, and what is the right way for staff to restart one when needed?
- When a screen shows an error message, what should staff do first, and who do they call?
- Is there one point of contact for every location, or does each site deal with support on its own?
- Will you help build channel maps and site records as part of setup?
- How are programming changes made across all locations at once?
- What happens when a location adds screens, remodels or changes its layout?
- Can you send a technician to any of our markets, or only some?
Sports Direct | DLM Media is an authorized commercial dealer with 30+ years of expertise and one of the original six commercial DIRECTV dealers. You can read how ongoing help works on our commercial TV support service page, and how we work with groups on our multi-location and national accounts page. For broader standards beyond the daily routine, see our multi-site TV programming playbook. If you want help turning this checklist into a standard for your locations, talk with a programming specialist.