Downton Abbey not populating correctly on my Apple TV

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Level 1

8 points

Downton Abbey not populating correctly on my Apple TV

I purchased Downton Abbey the series (because of how great it is), and it has proven to be problematic to access it on my Apple TV’s. If it appears in up next, it constantly points the app towards Amazon Prime to watch it instead of my purchase in Apple TV. That is just one layer of the problem. I then got rid of amazon prime, and joked that Up Next would just tell me to redownload amazon instead of pointing towards my apple purchase... but it wasnt a joke because that’s exactly what it did next.

Not deterred, because of how great Downton Abbey is, i tried again, and it pointed me towards episodes of the show that i could purchase from Apple. I’ve already purchased it, so that was downright maddening. The absolute only way i can access my purchase, is to go to ‘library, tv shows, downton abbey’. In that view, the entire series is only accessible as one block of episodes. So every time i want to watch it, i have to scroll through the entire series in this view to find the next episode.

Apple TV 4K, tvOS 14

Posted on Nov 11, 2020 9:28 AM

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Answer 1

aforchie Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 13, 2020 4:01 PM in response to Urquhart1244

Apple TV isn't an option under How to Watch, further, if my go to watch now, as opposed to library, and select any episode of the series, it prompts me to buy the episode. I can only watch the show, by selecting an individual episode under 'my library'.

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Answer 2

Urquhart1244

Level 10

146,232 points

Nov 11, 2020 10:35 PM in response to aforchie

Go to the Details/Information page for the show, then scroll down to How to Watch, and select Apple TV (iTunes Store) instead of Amazon Prime. Then it should default to the content provider that you intended, for that show.

To go to the Details page from Up Next, press-and-hold until the contextual pop-up menu shows the ‘Details’ option.

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Answer 3

Nov 21, 2020 6:50 AM in response to aforchie

I’m having the same problem aforchie, except that it wants to play in CBC Gem, not Amazon Prime. I too tried removing the CBC Gem app, but Apple TV then just prompted me to re-download the app again instead of allowing me to play it in the Apple TV app. If I’m part way through an episode it will allow me to continue watching it through Apple TV via Up Next, but once the episode is over it goes back to Up Next and will only give me the option of re-downloading CBC Gem to watch the rest of the series.

I would even use the CBC Gem app, but because I don’t have a paid subscription I have to watch commercials, which completely defeats the purpose of having purchased the series in the first place!

I also tried using the iTunes TV Shows app on my Apple TV device. This app was never ideal, but it used to at least remember the last episode I watched and give me the option of continuing from the main page via a button showing the episode I’m on. But now this app is no longer working properly as well, it now always starts on season 1, episode 1, meaning it shows all 76 episodes as a single block that I have to manually scroll through.

I called Apple tech support and the very nice support agent told me that this is a known problem with this series (only this series) that Apple IT technicians are looking into, but that it’s possible it may never be fixed.

This is the first, and will likely be the last series I download through ITunes if Apple can’t be bothered to fix the problem. When I spend this kind of money on a download I expect it to work in a way that doesn’t frustrate me every time I view it. I’m tired of this run around, next time I’ll just purchase the discs.

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Downton Abbey not populating correctly on my Apple TV

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