Drop the Channels view
While I understand the idea behind originally having this Channels view, in a larger context and in its current state it seems to have little reason for being part of a Core app:
- there's no clear communication about what channels are
- lack of additional information (metadata) about channels makes them relatively confusing, without familiarity
- there's no way to add new channels or remove old ones
- this view would really need to be accompanied by a service to discover new channels to be useful
- the preloaded channels are not universal and are pretty region-specific
- the origin of preloaded channels is unknown/unclear
- people are better served by the corresponding web-based players
I suspect most people just use Totem for playing local files and simply watch remote content in a browser or on a TV. As it is (and as intended) Channels view I think that is out-of-scope for Totem and focusing on being a great player for local video content would do the app a service.
What I do suggest though, is spinning off all this grilo-powered functionality into a "GNOME TV" (or something) app where it can be better served.