Cookie Policy

Effective 4 August 2026

This policy explains what GuardianTV Live stores in your browser.

The short version

We use no advertising cookies and no cross-site tracking cookies. We use Google Analytics to count page visits, and it only runs if you accept it — decline and no analytics cookie is ever set. Everything else we store is a preference that stays on your device.

What we store

Name	Type	Purpose	Duration	Needs consent
gtv-trial-bar-dismissed	Local storage	Remembers that you closed the promotional bar so it isn't shown again	30 days	No — strictly necessary
gtv-consent	Local storage	Remembers whether you accepted or declined analytics	Until cleared	No — records your own choice
_ga, _ga_*	Cookie (Google Analytics)	Counts visits and distinguishes one browser from another so page totals aren't double-counted	Up to 2 years	Yes

How analytics consent works

The Google Analytics tag loads with Google Consent Mode v2 set to denied by default. Until you press Accept it sets no cookies and sends no identifiers — only an anonymous, cookieless signal that a page was viewed.

Press Accept and analytics_storage is granted, allowing the _ga cookies above. Press Decline and nothing further is stored. Your choice is remembered so you are not asked again.

To change your mind, clear this site's local storage (see below) and the banner will reappear.

What we don't use

• Advertising cookies. The site carries no advertising, and ad_storage and ad_personalization are permanently denied.
• Cross-site tracking. We build no profile that follows you to other sites.
• Viewing profiles. Analytics records which pages were viewed, never which channels you watched.
• Social media pixels. No embedded trackers from any social platform.
• Session recording. No heatmaps, no replay, no keystroke capture.
• Fingerprinting. We make no attempt to identify returning visitors by device characteristics. IP anonymisation is enabled.

Cookies vs local storage

Cookies are sent to the server with every request. Local storage is not — it stays in your browser and is only read by JavaScript running on this site.

We deliberately use local storage rather than cookies for preferences, because it means the data never travels to us at all.

Third-party content

Channel logos are loaded from the servers of the broadcasters and image hosts that publish them. Those requests reveal your IP address to those hosts, as any image request does, and they may set cookies of their own — entirely outside our control.

Media streams are served by their original publishers, who may apply their own logging.

Managing storage

You can clear local storage at any time:

• Chrome / Edge: Settings → Privacy and security → Clear browsing data → Cookies and other site data
• Firefox: Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data → Clear Data
• Safari: Settings → Privacy → Manage Website Data

Clearing it only means the promotional bar reappears. Nothing else on the site depends on it.

Consent

Analytics cookies are non-essential, so under the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and the EU ePrivacy Directive they require your consent. That is why the banner appears and why nothing is stored until you choose. Declining is as easy as accepting.

The two local-storage preferences listed above are exempt from consent: one is strictly necessary to honour a choice you made, and the other is the record of your choice.

Changes

If we ever introduce any further non-essential storage, this policy will be updated and appropriate consent obtained before it is used.

Contact

Questions: support@guardiantv.net