Moroccan TV schedule during Ramadan: how to plan your evenings

How the Moroccan TV schedule changes during Ramadan, from the ftour comedies to the late series, and how to plan your evenings in Morocco or abroad.

The Moroccan TV schedule during Ramadan is unlike the rest of the year. Programmes move around ftour, the channels launch their biggest productions, and the whole country seems to watch the same screen at the same moment. This guide explains how a typical Ramadan evening is organised on Moroccan TV and how to plan yours, at home or abroad. For the content side, series, Shahid and MBC, see our page on Ramadan IPTV: series, Shahid and MBC.

Exact programme times change every year and every channel publishes its own grid, so treat this as a map of the evening rather than a timetable.

During Ramadan, the TV day is built around the time of ftour, the meal that breaks the fast at sunset. Daytime schedules are lighter, with religious programmes, cooking shows and repeats. The prime time starts with the call to prayer and runs late into the night, because many families stay up until suhoor.

Ftour time moves a little every day and differs between cities: it comes a few minutes earlier in Oujda than in Agadir, for example. Channels adjust their evening grid accordingly, so a programme that starts "after ftour" does not start at the same clock time all month.

Around the meal itself, Moroccan channels traditionally broadcast short, light programmes: sitcoms, hidden-camera shows and comedy sketches. They are designed to be watched while eating, with the whole family at the table, and they are among the most-watched programmes of the year.

Because everyone in Morocco and many Moroccans abroad tune in at the same time, this is also the moment when internet networks are busiest. More on that below.

Once the meal is over, the channels move to their flagship drama series, the productions they have prepared for months. On 2M and Al Aoula, this slot usually follows the evening news and the first comedy. Many families watch one series, go to Taraweeh prayers, and come back for the next one.

Episodes are generally broadcast every day of the month, often around thirty in total, so missing a few evenings means losing the thread quickly. That is where repeats, the EPG and on-demand episodes become useful.

After the main series, the schedule turns to talk shows, religious programmes, repeats of the day's episodes and, on some channels, live recitations. Night owls often use this time for a second viewing of an episode they missed, or for Arabic series on the Gulf and Egyptian channels, which have their own Ramadan line-ups.

Assadissa, the national religious channel, takes on a special role during the month. It broadcasts Quran recitation, religious lessons and, on many nights, prayers from the mosques. Many families keep it on around Taraweeh and suhoor, alongside the entertainment channels.

Morocco uses GMT+1 for most of the year but switches back to GMT during Ramadan, then returns to GMT+1 after Eid. For viewers in Morocco this happens automatically on phones and TVs. For viewers abroad, it changes the time difference with Morocco for the whole month.

• In the UK, the gap with Morocco depends on whether British Summer Time has started; check it again when Ramadan begins.
• In France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands, Morocco is usually one hour behind during Ramadan in winter, and two hours behind once European summer time starts.
• In New York or Montreal, the gap shrinks by an hour compared with the rest of the year.

Ramadan moves about eleven days earlier each year, so the overlap with European and North American clock changes is different every time. Check your player app's EPG settings so the guide shows programmes in your local time.

1. Before the first night, list the two or three programmes you really want to follow and the channel of each one.
2. Add those channels to your favourites in the player app, so you reach them in one click at ftour.
3. Check the EPG each afternoon: Ramadan grids are sometimes adjusted during the month.
4. Decide in advance what you will watch live and what you will catch up on later, so the family is not fighting over the remote at 21:00.

The programme guide is your best friend in Ramadan. It shows what is on now and next on each channel, and it reflects the special grid of the month. In most player apps you can open it from the channel list and set it to your own time zone.

For series you cannot watch live, look in the films and series section (VOD) and, where the channel offers it, in catch-up. If these terms are new to you, the page what is IPTV explains them simply.

The first ftour of Ramadan is the worst evening to discover a problem. Test everything a few days before: the app, your access, the channels you want and the picture quality at the busiest hours. In Morocco, evening peaks usually run from 20:00 to 23:00; during Ramadan they start right at ftour.

If your connection is borderline, read our guide on internet speed for IPTV, which covers fibre, ADSL and 4G on Maroc Telecom, inwi and Orange. If you are not yet a customer, a free 24-hour test line on WhatsApp lets you check all this before paying.

If the month went by too fast, you are not alone. The big Ramadan productions are often repeated in the weeks and months that follow, sometimes in the afternoon or late evening slots, and some appear in the films and series section. Keep a note of the titles you started during the month, and check the programme guide after Eid for repeats on the same channel.

Ramadan evenings often bring different tastes under one roof: parents follow a Moroccan drama while younger family members want an Arabic series or a football match. Every plan plays one stream at a time, so the evening needs a little planning: the drama live, the series on demand later, when the TV is free. The VIP plan can be installed on 1 or 2 devices, one at a time, for example the living-room TV and the bedroom TV used at different moments, and its catalogue of 43,000 channels and 200,000 films and series gives everyone more to choose from. If two people must watch at the same moment, a second subscription is the answer.

The three plans cost Standard 300 DH, Premium 450 DH and VIP 600 DH for 12 months, and access is sent within 1 hour, 24 h at most. Compare them on the IPTV subscription page, or browse the channels by category on Moroccan TV channels by category. Ramadan Mubarak from the IPTV Morocco team.