Why do I need to buy content when I already pay for the subscription

With a subscription as expensive as AppleTV why do I still need to spend even more money to watch any of the good movies or shows? It doesn’t seem fair to make your subscribers pay so much so many times. Seems pointless to have a subscription just to pay more on top of that.

C222X,

Posted on May 5, 2023 6:08 PM

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Posted on Jan 3, 2024 3:48 PM

I just went through this last night. I had tagged half a dozen movies to watch, but when I went to watch them, none of them would play. When I click "HOW TO WATCH" it says you can buy, rent, or subscribe. I do subscribe, so what's the problem?

49 replies

May 8, 2023 12:50 PM in response to Urquhart1244

That’s not true at all. Never once has Netflix charged me for any of their content with a subscription. The options for Disney+ for buying or renting are only when said movies are still in theaters. Since most appletv productions don’t go to theater that makes it completely different from what other subscriptions do. Hulu and peacock offer far more than appletv. So I say again, it isn’t right that all the good new options from your company are making you pay extra for something that shouldn’t cost anything to subscribers. Maybe to the people wanting to rent without subscribing. I get that. But your subscription is too expensive and wants to charge more and more for the opportunity to view something that should be free with a subscription.

May 9, 2023 5:03 PM in response to Johnathan Burger

Maybe to someone who has a ton of money to blow or who doesn’t mind spending extra money on top of the money they already spent for a subscription. Answer me this; when you want to go to the theater, do they charge you a fee to enter the theater and then again to watch the movie? No. Because that’s a rip off. That’s exactly what this is. Buy out subscription just to have access then buy again to watch the movies you bought the subscription for. It’s absolutely stupid.

May 7, 2023 7:39 AM in response to ilbarden

There is no double charging. The Apple TV app hosts more content than just the Apple TV+ subscription catalog. The subscription is not for the app (the app itself is free), but for access to the Apple Originals a.k.a Apple TV+ catalog. Buying or renting movies or TV shows is separate from the subscription. One does not require the other. See Apple TV+ as an in-app subscription channel.


With the Apple TV app on your smart TV or third party streaming device, you can access:


Buy/​rent prices are set by the supplying studios, and pretty much on par with every other content provider with buy/​rent content. I.e. no honest reason to think of that as excessive, compared to anywhere else.

Mar 2, 2024 12:41 PM in response to mechanicalbride

The "Napoleon" movie is part of the "Apple TV +" subscription content. The movies that require you to rent or buy are not part of the subscription.


The subscription is only for "Apple TV +" content except when Apple offers subscribers limited-time to watch movies that are normally not part of the subscription. Such as the 50 limited-time to watch movies that are available now for March & April 2024

Jan 31, 2024 12:29 PM in response to kforseth

kforseth wrote:

This is complete BS. It is not OK to charge a lot of money for a subscription and then to charge huge sums in addition to that for your content. I know you are trying to justify this but it does not wash.

Your Apple TV subscription only includes original Apple content. That's it. Nothing else. If you want content that comes from some other outlet, you need to buy it. It's just like if you subscribe to the New York Times, you don't get the books from the New York Times Bestseller list for free.

Apr 16, 2024 1:44 PM in response to Alex Sim

Alex Sim wrote:

There is so little content anyway even if it was all free not worth £8.99 a month

I have used Prime, Paramount+, Hulu and so far Apple TV+ offers far better quality content than any of those other services. I don't consider old TV shows found on those other apps a reason to pay more for a service just to claim they have more content.


You are given a free trial when you sign up to Apple TV+ for the first time to give you the opportunity to see if you like the content and if you don't, then just cancel and move on with your day. It's not that difficult and everyone is perfectly capable of deciding for themselves.

Why do I need to buy content when I already pay for the subscription

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