diff --git a/lib/streaming_providers/base/network/http_manager.py b/lib/streaming_providers/base/network/http_manager.py
index 8c26bdd..6007dab 100644
--- a/lib/streaming_providers/base/network/http_manager.py
+++ b/lib/streaming_providers/base/network/http_manager.py
@@ -51,7 +51,10 @@ class HTTPManager:
         retry_strategy = Retry(
             total=self.config.max_retries,
             backoff_factor=self.config.retry_delay,
-            status_forcelist=[429, 500, 502, 503, 504],
+            # Only retry 429 (Rate limit) at the urllib3 level.
+            # 500/503 should be handled by the provider's EPG manager
+            # to prevent Akamai bot detection.
+            status_forcelist=[429],
             allowed_methods=["HEAD", "GET", "OPTIONS", "POST", "PUT", "DELETE"],
         )
 
@@ -196,10 +199,11 @@ class HTTPManager:
         # Merge with any additional kwargs (caller overrides win)
         request_kwargs.update(kwargs)
 
-        # Inject Referer from last response URL if not already set by caller
+        # Inject Referer from last response URL if not already set by caller.
+        # NOTE: Auto-injecting Referer is disabled by default because WAFs (like Akamai)
+        # flag API requests that have backend API URLs as the Referer.
+        # Providers should explicitly set the Referer header in their own header factories if needed.
         headers = request_kwargs.setdefault("headers", {})
-        if "Referer" not in headers and self._last_url:
-            headers["Referer"] = self._last_url
 
         # Inject Origin derived from target URL only when explicitly requested.
         # Origin injection is opt-in because some non-browser APIs reject
diff --git a/lib/streaming_providers/providers/magentaeu/epg_manager.py b/lib/streaming_providers/providers/magentaeu/epg_manager.py
index 8665344..24aa453 100644
--- a/lib/streaming_providers/providers/magentaeu/epg_manager.py
+++ b/lib/streaming_providers/providers/magentaeu/epg_manager.py
@@ -463,6 +463,7 @@ class MagentaEUEpgManager:
 
             # Add retry logic
             max_retries = 3
+            block_success = False
             for attempt in range(max_retries):
                 try:
                     response = self._http.get(
@@ -473,6 +474,7 @@ class MagentaEUEpgManager:
                     )
                     response.raise_for_status()
                     merged[url] = response.json()
+                    block_success = True
                     break  # Success, exit retry loop
                 except Exception as exc:
                     if attempt < max_retries - 1:
@@ -489,6 +491,14 @@ class MagentaEUEpgManager:
                             f"schedule fetch offset={hour_offset} failed after {max_retries} attempts: {exc}"
                         )
 
+            # If the block failed after all retries, skip it and move to the next block
+            if not block_success:
+                logger.warning(
+                    f"[MagentaEUEpgManager/{self._country}] "
+                    f"Skipping block offset={hour_offset} due to server 500/503 errors."
+                )
+                continue
+
         return merged
 
     def _fetch_program_details(self, program_id: str) -> Dict[str, Any]: