Purchased videos no longer play on any devices

Question

Level 1

95 points

Purchased videos no longer play on any devices

I have a collection of purchased music and video from Apple. Up until today (January 17, 2020) I did not have any issues playing either. Today, for no apparent reason, I can no longer play purchased videos on the Apple TV device (I have 3 of them), on the TV app on my Macbook Pro w/Retina 15" Mid-2014, on the TV App on my iPhone 7, or the TV app on my iPad Pro.

I receive an error message saying "there's a problem loading the content".

I can still play my purchased music on all devices and apps. Music and video are stored in the same Music folder, so it can't be a connection issue to where the content is stored.

Thoughts on how to troubleshoot this? It seems that it would be an issue stream specific video formats, as I have no issue streaming from Hulu or other streaming services that are installed on my Apple TV device or from providers' websites on my Macbook.

Mike

Apple TV (4th generation)

Posted on Jan 17, 2020 6:36 AM

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Answer 1

dfmz

Level 1

4 points

Jan 17, 2020 7:59 AM in response to rotorblades

Hi guys! I'm in France using a US iTunes account on an AppleTV 4K (I have 4 of them in my system) and they all have the same issue. I've tried rebooting the fiber box, the router and the AppleTVs, to no avail. Purchased TV shows and Movies refuse to play and I get the same exact messages you guys do: 'The iTunes Store is currently unavailable. Try again later'.

Same issue on all my devices: iPhone, Macbook, everything.

I tried using my cellular connection and same result: no play + error message.

Bonus info:

>I have a French iTunes account and it plays purchased content just fine.

>I sent my US iTunes account login to a friend of mine who gets his internet access through a different provider and everything works normally, so apparently the internet provider could be a factor here.

>I can download iTunes TV shows and movies on my Mac or iPhone, no problem. I just can't stream.

-AppleTV+ shows (Morning Show, etc.) play just fine.

Consequently, I think the issue is coming from Apple, not me (or you). Can anyone in the US contact Apple support and see what's up? I can't call or be called from here.

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Answer 2

rotorblades Author

Level 1

95 points

Jan 17, 2020 6:48 AM in response to rotorblades

Second note - if I navigate directly to the location where the file is stored and open the file using QuickTime Player on my Macbook Pro the video plays with no issues.

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Answer 3

rotorblades Author

Level 1

95 points

Jan 17, 2020 10:34 AM in response to rotorblades

at 12:20 p.m. Central Time USA on 01/17/2020 I checked and my purchased videos are working again. I'm guessing it was an issue with a check that Apple does to ensure the purchased video was valid and purchased by the Apple ID user playing the video.

I did not do anything to get it to work - just checked again and it was working.

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Answer 4

Jan 17, 2020 7:49 AM in response to rotorblades

Same issue, has been happening since last Friday and at a certain time of the day. Can’t stream movies or TV Shows i own or watch trailers. Music runs fine. Other streaming services run fine so it’s not a local network issue. On every single device - pc, mac, ipad, iphone, atv3, atv4. Weirdly I can download at max speeds to watch on pc/mac but can’t stream the same movie. The major viewing done is on the atv4 so those thousands of movies/tv owned is not accessible for over a week now.

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Answer 5

rotorblades Author

Level 1

95 points

Jan 17, 2020 7:57 AM in response to dfmz

Tweet to @AppleTV and post message on the Apple TV page on Facebook. Get this issue out to as many social media outlets where Apple has a presence.

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Answer 6

rotorblades Author

Level 1

95 points

Jan 17, 2020 6:45 AM in response to rotorblades

Note that if I disconnect from my home network and attempt to stream using my cellular data on my iPhone I get the same error message - so it does not appear to be related to my home router or network.

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Answer 7

Laladien

Level 1

4 points

Jan 17, 2020 7:13 AM in response to rotorblades

I'm having a similar episode. Started last night. Was watching a show and it just stopped running. Went to reload it and I get "The iTunes store is currently unavailable. Try again later" message. Tried on my laptop, iphone using data network... still get the same message. :(

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Answer 8

dfmz

Level 1

4 points

Jan 17, 2020 8:12 AM in response to rotorblades

I don't use FB, but I can tweet, no problem. Good call.

As a side note, hopefully Apple monitors these support forums....

Edit: I just tweeted and DM'd Apple Support and sent them a link to this discussion. Hopefully someone will get back to us shortly.

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Answer 9

rotorblades Author

Level 1

95 points

Jan 17, 2020 9:16 AM in response to dfmz

dfmz - thanks for the reply. I have all of my content stored locally and cannot play any of it. I tried through 2 providers - my home ISP and my hotspot (data plan on hotspot allows streaming video) and got the same error on both (and these are two different company providers).

I turned off my antivirus and it still didn't work (although antivirus is not installed on the Apple TV devices).

I can also play TV+ content like Morning Show and For All Mankind. I can play other shows through apps like ABC TV on my Apple TV device.

The device does recognize the length of the video and the position slider can be moved to different times within the video, but no video or sound appears. I can click back or forward 10 seconds and the device correctly responds, moving 10 seconds on the time counter. However, clicking Play/Pause does not cause the time counter to increment when put in Play mode.

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Answer 10

dfmz

Level 1

4 points

Jan 17, 2020 12:19 PM in response to rotorblades

Same here. Everything is back to normal.

Have a good one, guys!

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Purchased videos no longer play on any devices

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