Change channel

Use this action to send a change channel command to your Harmony Hub. You provide the channel number you want to switch to.

Using this action from the user interface

If you prefer building automations and scripts visually, Home Assistant walks you through this action step by step. You pick what to target, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To change the channel from an automation or a script:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. If you’re setting up a new automation, add a trigger in the When section. Scripts don’t need a trigger. They run when something else calls them.
4. In the Then do section, select Add action.
5. Select what you want to control. Under By target (see Targets), select the Harmony remote you want to control.
6. From the actions shown for that target, select Change channel.
7. Enter the Channel you want to switch to.
8. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this action in YAML

If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required.

In YAML, refer to this action as harmony.change_channel. A basic example looks like this:

action: harmony.change_channel
target:
  entity_id: remote.tv_room
data:
  channel: 200

This changes the channel to 200 on remote.tv_room.

Options in YAML

Targets of the action

This action requires a target. The target is the object of the action. You can point the action at a single entityAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more], a device, an area, a floor, or a label, and Home Assistant will run the action on every matching remote entity behind that target.

• Entity: one specific remote entity, such as remote.living_room.
• Device: every remote entity that belongs to a device.
• Area: every remote entity in a room or area.
• Floor: every remote entity on a floor.
• Label: every remote entity that shares a label.

You can also select different target types in one action. For example, you can add a specific entity and an area as targets in the same action to run the action on both of them at once.

Good to know

• The Harmony Hub must be running an activity that controls the device you want to change the channel on, such as a Watch TV activity.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Developer tools > Actions, search for this action, fill in the fields, and select Perform action. You see what happens on your actual entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] without writing a line of YAML.

More examples

Real scenarios where this action shows up in automations and scripts. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Automation: switch to the news channel each evening

Tune to your news channel at a fixed time.

• Trigger: Time is 6:00 PM
• Action: Change channel
  • Target: TV room remote
  • Channel: 200

- alias: "Switch to the news channel each evening"
  triggers:
    - trigger: time
      at: "18:00:00"
  actions:
    - action: harmony.change_channel
      target:
        entity_id: remote.tv_room
      data:
        channel: 200

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the action you’re calling and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.

Related actions

These actions work well alongside this one:

• Sync: Synchronizes the Harmony Hub configuration with the Harmony cloud.