diff --git a/src/Domain/Stream/CategoryService.php b/src/Domain/Stream/CategoryService.php
index 76ef1521..230eeecb 100644
--- a/src/Domain/Stream/CategoryService.php
+++ b/src/Domain/Stream/CategoryService.php
@@ -45,7 +45,9 @@ class CategoryService {
 				}
 			}
 			FileCache::delCache('categories');
-			FileCache::delCache('category_map');
+			// category_map (bouquet => category ids) is left alone: reordering does not
+			// change it, and only the heavy cache pass rebuilds it — up to 5 minutes
+			// later — while every line authentication reads it.
 		}
 
 		if (!defined('STATUS_SUCCESS') && class_exists(\XC_Bootstrap::class)) {
@@ -88,7 +90,8 @@ class CategoryService {
 			$rInsertID = $db->last_insert_id();
 			$catId = isset($rData['edit']) ? intval($rData['edit']) : intval($rInsertID);
 			FileCache::delCache('categories');
-			FileCache::delCache('category_map');
+			// Not category_map: which categories a bouquet reaches depends on its
+			// streams, not on a category's name, type or order (see reorder()).
 
 			// Sync any templates and subscribers tied to this category
 			if ($catId > 0 && class_exists(CategoryTemplateService::class)) {
@@ -105,10 +108,11 @@ class CategoryService {
 	 * Возвращает категории с int-ключами (замена legacy getCategories()).
 	 * Всегда читает из БД ($rForce = true).
 	 *
-	 * @param string $rType 'live'|'movie'|'series'|'radio'|null
+	 * @param string|null $rType 'live'|'movie'|'series'|'radio', or null for every type
+	 *                          (the admin global search asks for all of them).
 	 * @return array<int, array>
 	 */
-	public static function getAllByType(string $rType = 'live') {
+	public static function getAllByType(?string $rType = 'live') {
 		$rCategories = self::getFromDatabase(($rType ?: null), true);
 		$rReturn = [];
 		foreach ($rCategories as $rID => $rRow) {
diff --git a/src/Domain/Stream/StreamProcess.php b/src/Domain/Stream/StreamProcess.php
index 106aaa9b..e9e72150 100644
--- a/src/Domain/Stream/StreamProcess.php
+++ b/src/Domain/Stream/StreamProcess.php
@@ -315,12 +315,13 @@ class StreamProcess {
 	 * still emit `-map` for every file — so multi-subtitle movies imported one
 	 * track but mapped non-existent inputs. The two loops are now siblings.
 	 *
-	 * @param string $rSubtitlesJson `movie_subtitles` JSON from the stream row.
-	 * @param array  $rServers       Server registry (for remote subtitle fetch).
+	 * @param string|null $rSubtitlesJson `movie_subtitles` JSON from the stream row;
+	 *                                    NULL for a movie or episode saved without subtitles.
+	 * @param array       $rServers       Server registry (for remote subtitle fetch).
 	 * @return array{0:string,1:string} [$rSubtitlesImport, $rSubtitlesMetadata].
 	 */
-	private static function buildSubtitleImport(string $rSubtitlesJson, array $rServers) {
-		$rSubtitles = json_decode($rSubtitlesJson, true);
+	private static function buildSubtitleImport(?string $rSubtitlesJson, array $rServers) {
+		$rSubtitles = json_decode((string) $rSubtitlesJson, true);
 		$rSubtitlesImport = '';
 		$rSubtitlesMetadata = '';
 		if (!empty($rSubtitles) && !empty($rSubtitles['files']) && is_array($rSubtitles['files'])) {
diff --git a/src/Domain/User/UserRepository.php b/src/Domain/User/UserRepository.php
index 54e7dc93..fedccd51 100644
--- a/src/Domain/User/UserRepository.php
+++ b/src/Domain/User/UserRepository.php
@@ -552,8 +552,10 @@ class UserRepository {
 			$rUserInfo = array_merge($rUserInfo, self::aggregateBouquetIds($rUserInfo['bouquet'], $rBouquets));
 		}
 
-		$rCategoryMap = igbinary_unserialize(file_get_contents(CACHE_TMP_PATH . 'category_map'));
-		$rUserInfo['category_ids'] = self::resolveCategoryIds($rUserInfo['bouquet'], $rCategoryMap);
+		// Built by the heavy cache pass; until it exists (a fresh install, a cleared
+		// cache) the line simply has no categories instead of the request failing.
+		$rCategoryMap = @igbinary_unserialize((string) @file_get_contents(CACHE_TMP_PATH . 'category_map'));
+		$rUserInfo['category_ids'] = self::resolveCategoryIds($rUserInfo['bouquet'], is_array($rCategoryMap) ? $rCategoryMap : []);
 		return $rUserInfo;
 	}
 
diff --git a/tests/Unit/StreamProcessSubtitleImportTest.php b/tests/Unit/StreamProcessSubtitleImportTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..521878ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Unit/StreamProcessSubtitleImportTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+<?php
+
+use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+use XcVm\Domain\Stream\StreamProcess;
+
+/**
+ * StreamProcess::buildSubtitleImport() — movies and episodes saved without
+ * subtitles store movie_subtitles as NULL, and startMovie() hands that value
+ * over. With a `string` parameter it threw, killing the queue daemon that
+ * encodes the movie queue.
+ */
+final class StreamProcessSubtitleImportTest extends TestCase {
+
+	private function build(?string $rJson): array {
+		$rMethod = new ReflectionMethod(StreamProcess::class, 'buildSubtitleImport');
+		$rMethod->setAccessible(true);
+		return $rMethod->invoke(null, $rJson, []);
+	}
+
+	public function testNoSubtitlesImportsNothing(): void {
+		$this->assertSame(['', ''], $this->build(null));
+		$this->assertSame(['', ''], $this->build(''));
+		$this->assertSame(['', ''], $this->build('{"files":[]}'));
+	}
+}