Series episode is not available on Apple TV

Hi Met,

Your TV Show purchases are accessible on your Mac. They might not be downloading automatically but you can download them at anytime from iTunes. Go to the iTunes store and you should see a "Purchased" option on the right hand side. Click on that and you can download any music or TV Shows you previously purchased through iTunes.

Christian thx for answering.

All content are automatically downloaded and re-checked that i have donloaded all the content from my mac. ATV2 purchased tab shows "panam" but i cannot see it tvshows section in itunes.

Last week's episodes which I was missing from my 9 Season Passes have shown up. Bad news is I got my email notification for a new show last night, the download was available in iTunes but once again it doesn't show on my Purchased Page nor does it have the cloud icon next to it on my AppleTv. It says "Buy" and just like last week if I click buy it just says I've already purchased this item. So at least for me, this problem has not been fixed. It's like they just manually refreshed everyone's Purchased sections but haven't fixed the problem.

Correction to my last post. Everything that had been fixed last night has now been undone. All nine season pass episodes I was missing are now once again gone to include a new one so a total of ten. In addition to that my entire season of Big Bang Theory Season 1 has disappeared from my purchased page on all devices. This is truly pathetic.

I actualy took the time to type out a generic support request in text edit where I can just trade out the episode and show titles to stop spending so much time typing. If they send me their generic "canned" response then I'll just return with mine in kind.

How is everyone else fairing? Anything changed since last night?

Well.. The walking dead and house episodes showed up, but still missing Terra Nova newest episode so it has not been fixed totally :(

Apple has yet to write me back..

Yep... seemed to be fixed earlier in the day. I was able to purchase some TV episodes and everything went as it was suppose to. Now... not so much.

New TV episodes are't showing up as availabe to watch again even though they've been purchased.

I'm really super surprised at how shoddy this whole thing is. What happened? Don't tell me that without Steve Jobs the company goes to crap this fast...

I hate to hear that some of you are still experiencing problems. Maybe my time is coming. However, I checked this morning and mine still seems to be working as expected.

I only have one active (new episodes every week) season pass and it's for Grey's Anatomy. Yesterday afternoon, the missing episode from last week finally showed up. A new episode aired last night and when I logged on this morning, it was available in the purchased section with the cloud appearing next to it.

Crossing my fingers that I'm going to stay fixed...hope you all get straightened out very soon.

I don't think there was ever any real doubt that Apple was going to fix the problem. Afterall, content available in the cloud in iTunes is a key, if not THE key feature of iCloud, touted by none other than Jobs himself in his last public speech. What surprised me the most is how poor Apple's customer service has handled the issue. While I am not exactly surprised by this, the level of incompetence exceeded my expectations, and I was most surprised at how difficult it is to even report this sort of issue to Apple.

If there is a power failure at my house or if my phone or cable TV stopped working, all of those service providers have an easy to find number or email address available to call and report the problem. The customer support at those other companies will likewise not threaten to charge you for the call to report that THEY have an issue providing the service YOU have paid for.

I do not expect expert service from Apple customer support in the sense that I know that the people answering the phone are call center employees, not Apple technicians. It is almost certain that anyone with enough competence to post on this board has more technical expertise than those answering the phones at Apple. Nevertheless, there should be a mechanism to escalate the request for support to a technician when the request exceeds the competence of the first level support. This is how cable companies handle support and in general it works pretty well. Apple does not seem to have this mechanism and that seems to be the real failing in this instance.

I received another canned response this morning from iTunes support. Jennifer wrote and suggested the following. Can you find your Apple TV in the iTunes prefs as she says in step 2? I'm not sure what the heck she is saying. Makes no sense.

If you are able to find the movie on your hard drive and would like to transfer it to your Apple TV follow these steps below:

1. Make sure the computer you want to sync from is on, and iTunes is open.

2. Go to iTunes > Preferences, choose Apple TV, and make sure “Look for Apple TVs” is selected.

Go to Edit > Preferences, choose Apple TV, and make sure “Look for Apple TVs” is selected.

3. On your Apple TV, choose Settings > Computers > “Connect to iTunes,” and note the passcode displayed.

4. In iTunes, select the Apple TV (below Devices), and enter the passcode.

5. Click the Summary button and select one of the following:

Automatic Sync:

iTunes automatically adds items to your Apple TV whenever you add them to your iTunes library,

Custom Sync:

You choose the items to sync. After you select this option, click the other buttons to specify your syncing preferences. With this option, you can prevent unsynced items from appearing on your Apple TV (when iTunes is open). To display all items, deselect the checkbox.

Note: If you don’t see these options, make sure you have the latest Apple TV software installed. To check, choose Settings > General > Update Software on your Apple TV.

To transfer a rented movie from your computer to your Apple TV, click the Videos button, select the movie you want to transfer, and click Move.

Important: You must be connected to the Internet to transfer a rented movie.

Case closed for me. All things restored. It was an unusual hiccup to be Apple, but then, considering what a big bang upgrade and new services installation this was, one can't say it was completely unexpected.

My situation is now officially worse than it was to start with. There are now more than just last week's episodes missing in most of my Season Passes. One show Against The Wall which was only missing one episode is now missing eleven. This is really ******* me off.

So I guess it's working for everyone but me? Latest episode of Supernatural dropped. Got my notification email but it doesn't show in Purchased on anything, as usual. No downloads either.

I am still getting this issue too (also Supernatural).

I also had a similar problem. The first "automatic" response from Apple support just got me mad, as the support person obviously had not read my report (or worse, did not understand any of it). However, after a somewhat fuming reply from me, the next response was a bit more intelligent:

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After reading your email, it is my understanding that you were unable to play "The Big Bang Theory, Season 1," and it is no longer available on the iTunes Store. My name is Ray, and I know it can be upsetting when you cannot enjoy a TV show you purchased, so I will gladly rectify this issue for you.

I have reversed the charge for "The Big Bang Theory, Season 1". You will see a store credit of $19.99 in five to seven business days. You may need to sign out of the iTunes Store and then sign back in before you see the credit in your account.

I have also submitted this item for investigation. Apple takes the quality of the items offered on the iTunes Store seriously and will investigate the issue with this item, but I can't say when or if the issue will be resolved. Please try again in a few weeks.

I sincerely hope I have addressed this issue to your satisfaction. It has been more than a pleasure assisting you, Olav. Feel free to reply with anymore questions or concerns you may have regarding this issue, and we will be more than happy to help. Have a great day!

Sincerely,

Raymond

iTunes Store/Mac App Store Customer Support

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however, there are some concerns, which I summarized in a reply to Customer support:

Thank you. Under the circumstances, I guess it is the best solution.

However, there are some principal concerns. When I purchase a TV show on my Apple TV, there is no way to download a local copy. Consequently, the show must be available from Apple's servers until "the end of time". If Apple decides to remove the show from the Cloud due to legal or other matters (as they seem to have done this time), then Apple basically has stolen my purchased property (unless they provide a full refund). However, this should be an automatic process, with due notification.

Please forward my concerns to your superiors.

__________

Basically, it looks like we must periodically check our ATV purchases, to see if they are still available. If something gets yanked from the Store, we must request a refund.

It was working for me the other day and now it is broken again. At least the shows are in my download list.