Is there any hope for progress with the HomePod Audio issues? How can this community put some pressure on Apple to make better if it is an Apple issue. I have been Loving Channels for many years now as it is rock solid. Just moved it over to a Synology Diskstation and it is still rock solid.
My only issues continue to be the HomePod Audio which is getting really annoying. Please fix 
Previous discussion here: Apple TV + Channels + HomePods
Does disabling Picture in Picture help the situation for you? It did for me.
I have one AppleTV 4K on my kitchen TV that is set to send audio out by default to one HomePod mini. I started to experience consistent issues last year, specifically when starting any live show or recording, the playback would immediately pause, and I had to FF or exit and re-enter to get everything playing as expected.
Just wanted to report that as of today, with that AppleTV on the latest tvOS public beta (17.3,) Channels DVR on the latest prerelease, the Channels client on the latest TestFlight, with "Lab" selected in Channels' Settings > Playback > Advanced > Audio, I'm not experiencing those issues any more. It's working much better. Hopefully this will be fixable for everyone else out there too and that invoking PIP won't impact it negatively.
This is good news. Are you HomePods on beta as well?
I have the same settings, HomePods are not on the beta, and playback is fine. My problem is if I start a Virtual Channel it plays fine. When it goes to the next episode I get no sound then. Have to exit the channel can come back in.
Unfortunately, the settings and updates @Fofer mentioned don't fix the issue for me. I get the same result as I mentioned here: Apple TV + Channels + HomePods - #25 by john.
I'm using two Apple HomePod 2nd generation devices with stereo pair, running 17.2.
I’m not running the beta on my HomePod, and I avoid it specifically. Because if I don’t and let it update, then it eventually supplants all of my 4K wired AppleTVs as the primary HomeKit hub, and I can feel the difference with smarthome commands, responsiveness and reliability. By leaving it at least one version behind, I’m ensuring it doesn’t get prioritized over better-suited hardware.
My PIP is disabled. So that is not a fix for me.