That's only if you are actually live with the broadcast. If you are behind, the time in the progress indicator is the point in time that is on the screen, not the current time. In your posted screenshot, if I were to press pause for 10 minutes, and then view the progress timeline, it would still display "8:52", not "9:02". The fact that the current position often reflects the current time is a happy accident, not a substitute for a clock. (Also, this doesn't help when you are viewing any other screen/page in the Channels UI.)
Ah yes, that’s true and makes sense. A consistent way to see the current time, somewhere in the Channels UI, would be nice indeed. The Guide makes the most sense, and perhaps in the Info banner of anything that’s currently playing.
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This would be super helpful!
At least once a week for the last year we've been using Channels, I get asked the 'WHEN' question by the Boss...
I'm not entirely sure why there isn't a clock? One would have to assume this would be an easy win, for a lot of people?
I think it is because the Channels DEVs hate clocks. That's the only logical explanation. It reminds them of how much time they spend working on things 
For all the clock feature requests, I don't recall seeing a response on if/when it is something they are going to implement.
All I know is someone in our house is always asking what time it is. It never fails, my phone is in the deepest regions of my pocket and held in with superglue at that point. It sure would be nice to have a clock in Channels.
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I love channels for all it does and it's certainly the best out there, but unless the Devs want it, it won't be done.
Why is there a Tesla integration, unsupported kodi plugin, PlutoTV docker container or any of the other random 'hacks'?
Why isn't there a clock on the guide, Chromecast abilities, feature parody in 4.0, a color scheme that you can actually read or any other 'community requests'?
Lots of mixing apples and oranges in one post...
Is it possible the software just doesn't know what time it is?
Does Floating Clock have a keyboard shortcut to toggle on/off?
Floating clock I guess might be an option but a legitimate question should be asked is why end users need to work around the developers on a issue which isn't a niche request?
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Without the ability to toggle off/on with a remote like my Harmony hub, I can't consider it an option, but I still like your post. You bring up a good question that should be answered.
New to channels coming from TiVo and the first thing my wife asked me is where the clock was in the guide. We’ve loved everything about the dvr including the GUI and the guide but the lack of a clock is the one annoyance we’ve experienced.
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Guess you have to consider where the clock is being displayed and where it comes from.
For a DVR environment the clock used for recording is on the server.
For a Client it depends on if there's a DVR or not.
I've never seen a reply from the devs as to why this isn't implemented.
Don't know if it's just extremely difficult to implement or they just have no need for it.
Definitely would be nice as I'm always checking the clock on other things while using Channels DVR to see what time it is. Same with Yesterday, Today, Tuesday, etc. displays (would like to see date instead, maybe just me?).
I've been asked this once a week, at least, for the 13-14 months we've been using Channels - drives me up the wall.
In my living room, there is already a Lenovo smart clock in the tv stand...that suits those users fine.
In Channels, would be nice to have a static clock when viewing the guide, even though you can see the general time based on the guide block cells for current airing.
You also do have the time displayed on the live GUI seek bar when watching a program, as long as you stay live, it is accurate clock, and the seek bar is start time end time, so you can see what timeframe you are in that way too. But, would be nice to nice to have a static clock shoved in there, or perhaps in the quick quick top tool bar....but idk.
This is a poor indicator. The timeline's beginning is the 30-minute period that includes the beginning of the current live buffer, and the timeline's end is the next 30-minute time on the clock. The timeline is completely separate from the current program; instead it is wholly dependent upon the current live TV buffer. When the TV has been on the same channel and you have a large buffer, the "seek bar" is essentially useless.
Like i said, as long as u stay live , it shows the current time.
works fine for me ...though, i dont look at my tv/monitor to see the time, never had that habit, i look at my phone or computer since it is nearest me...or, just ask my Google Home.
Even back when we had a crappy Comcast cable box, it had a clock somewhere in the banner/UI it used, but the GUI of the thing was so bad, or, the box itself LEDS only showed time when box is off, we still used a stand alone clock next to the tv, for over 2 decades...so yea, maybe we are just not geared to use the tv it self to see the time.
EDIT: o. there is also a clock in the upper right of the screen, on the app home screen of the Shield, I frequently am on that screen, changing apps, so I guess that works fine for me, (or press the mic button on the remote and ask the time, and it speaks and shows the time while in any app) but, for those who only stay on Channels app, a static clock would be a welcome thing. But....I don't see them adding that. Pretty clear they have no intentions of doing so....
I have come around to wanting a clock on the onscreen display . All my other APPs have it this is the only one lacking it. HdHomeRun SageTV Emby and others all have a clock on the on screen display. Heck even the the screensaver has one. Heck even the guide should have a line through it indicating how far you are into a show,