Hein,
Thanks for your reply. I'm not using cable or satellite. I'm using over-the-air broadcasts that I'm receiving with an antenna. Those won't be shuffled, unless the channel itself gets moved for some reason, in which case I'll have to reset the channel list anyway.
The channel grouping is done by the broadcast providers themselves in the U.S., so that multiple channel broadcasts can be sent over a single digital signal. They usually list them in one of the following display formats: 7.1, 7-1, or 7_1.
If it helps, here is a link to the channels we can receive: http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=print_market&mktid=69.
The column all the way to the left is what would be displayed on the digital receiver on a normal TV. I cannot recreate that numbering scheme within tvheadend.
Also, tvheadend doesn't automatically assign channel numbers to my channel list (possibly because it doesn't recognize the numbering format?), so I have to number them by hand. I just figured that assigning them according to what channel they are broadcast on and what is in the TV listings made sense. I don't know how else I would number them other than making something up. Since I can't use non-numeric characters, I'm stuck with my not-so-ideal method I described in the first post.
I hope that makes sense. Thanks!