The simplest live channel is one video, or a playlist, played on repeat. It is also the one that catches people out, because the obvious tool for it, a computer running OBS, is the thing that fails. Here is how to loop a video as a live stream so that it stays up.
A live stream is only as reliable as the thing sending it. A laptop sleeps, updates, loses wifi and gets closed. OBS is a fine tool for a two hour show with you in the room. It was never meant to be left alone for a month, and neither was the machine under it.
The fix is to move the sending somewhere that does not sleep: a server. You can rent and run one yourself, or use a service that does only this.
With loop off, the stream ends when the video does, and YouTube ends the broadcast with it. Leave it on unless you are streaming a one-off event.
A playlist loops as a whole: the last video is followed by the first. You can edit it while the stream is live, and the change takes effect on the next pass without stopping the broadcast. That is how a channel adds a new episode without going off air.
Videos in one playlist should be the same size and frame rate, or the join between them is a visible jump. Beamd prepares every upload into one house format so the joins are clean; if you bring files of different sizes, it tells you which one is the odd one out.
YouTube, Rumble and Kick have no broadcast limit. Twitch ends every broadcast at 48 hours, and Beamd starts a new one on your behalf; Facebook and Instagram end at 8 hours and, unless you use a persistent stream key, the key dies with the broadcast. Beamd warns you about that when you add those destinations, and stops knocking on a dead key rather than trying for a day.
One looping stream to up to three destinations is the $19 a month Starter plan. The trial is free for 72 hours and needs no card.
Stream 24/7 with your computer off