Apple TV can't connect to Netflix

Question

Level 1

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Apple TV can't connect to Netflix

Anytime I try to use Netflix on my ATV it sits at the "Accessing Netflix" screen for several minutes before giving the dreaded "Netflix is currently unavailable. Please try again later." message.

Device info:

ATV model: MD199C/A
ATV software version: 7.0(6897.5)
Connected to my network via WI-FI
Other apps stream just fine.
I can access all of my iTunes purchased videos and they stream correctly.
I'm in Canada, the ATV region is set to Canada and the iTunes account is Canadian.

Devices I have on the same network that work just fine with Netflix ( all WI-FI ):

Windows laptop
Android tablet
PS3
PS4

What I've tried to resolve the situation:

All possible combinations of rebooting/power cycling the ATV, Router, Modem.
Using several different public DNS servers
Restoring the ATV from iTunes via the USB input.
Contacted Netflix. They passed the buck to Apple.

Here's the "interesting" bit. After several days of frustration I decided to try out one of the DNS providers that fool services into thinking your from another geographical region. Using their DNS servers ( and changing the ATV region to USA ) ATV connects to Netflix just fine. Switch back to my normal DNS servers and I'm back to not being able to connect.

Unfortunately this isn't really a solution since switching regions also logs me out of my iTunes account and I don't want to be fiddling with my region/DNS/account setting every time I decide to watch media from one source or the other.

Is the Netflix ATV app somehow region locked to the US? Is it possible that there's some kind of difference in the way the ATV Netflix app communicates with the Netflix servers vs other Netflix apps on other devices?

I've seen other threads dealing with similar problems but they all seem to be resolved via the reboot/restore path. I didn't see anything dealing specifically with this odd region problem.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Apple TV

Posted on Oct 8, 2014 5:36 AM

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Answer 1

braden85

Community Specialist

Oct 9, 2014 1:03 PM in response to smithjg2

Hi smithjg2,

It sounds like you have some questions about connecting to Netflix from your Apple TV. You may need to check to see if your country is listed in the countries where this service is available:

Contact Apple TV content providers

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4799

Netflix

Available in the Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latin America, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States

Subscription required

Visit this provider’s website

Contact billing, account, or technical support

Take care, and thanks for visiting the Apple Support Communities.

-Braden

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Answer 2

smithjg2 Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 10, 2014 5:12 AM in response to braden85

Thanks for the reply, but honestly that's not really helpful.

Am I supposed to believe that Netflix is somehow not available at all on Apple TV in Canada? Despite the fact that they include it in the apps when the region is set to 'Canada' and that it's the first non-iTunes app listed on the Apple TV Canada page https://www.apple.com/ca/appletv/whats-on/

So either the Apple support page is incomplete in the list of countries or the Apple TV Canada page is out-and-out lying to people about Netflix availability. What seems more likely?

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Answer 3

Oct 10, 2014 5:42 AM in response to smithjg2

I'm having the same problem and after an hour with tech support they told me to exchange the Apple TV for a new one. I had just purchase my first Apple TV 3 weeks ago and netflixs worked fine. I purchased a 2nd Apple TV 10/8 and I was not even able to input my account info for Netflix. Netflixs will not open. All I get is the error message mentioned in post above. After an hour with Apple tech support I was told to change it. New one is not working either. So now I try to watch on my original Apple TV and it is having the same issue. I am able to AirPlay from ipad but that is not how this is suppose to work. I am in the US by the way.

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Answer 4

bobwild

Level 4

1,634 points

Oct 10, 2014 6:06 AM in response to smithjg2

I just tested and Netflix is working on my AppleTV. I am in Canada. I have the 2nd gen model.

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Answer 5

Oct 10, 2014 6:38 AM in response to smithjg2

I Fixed it!! I have to set up a restriction code on the Apple TV. once I did this on each of my Apple TV's the both immediately went to Netflix login. And I have 3rd gen Apple TV . I went to General, Restrictions and went through the motions for setting it up.

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Answer 6

braden85

Community Specialist

Oct 10, 2014 6:54 AM in response to smithjg2

Hi again smithjg2,

It seems like you may be having some issues with your Netflix account that would be best to troubleshoot through Netflix’s technical support, as suggested in the link I posted previously. Here is that link again, in case you want to follow up in that manner:

Contact Apple TV content providers

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4799

Netflix

Contact billing, account, or technical support

Take care, and thanks for visiting the Apple Support Communities.

-Braden

Reply

Answer 7

smithjg2 Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 10, 2014 7:51 AM in response to braden85

Please don't take this the wrong way, but posts like those just don't help. They come off almost like you're a bot that spews out scripted replies based on keywords without taking into account context.

If you had read my original post I *have* contacted Netflix. They insist Apple is responsible for the workings of the Apple TV Netflix app.

This is *not* a general Netflix issue. I have four other devices on the same network working with the same Netflix account that have no issues.

This *is* a problem with either my Apple TV device itself or with the Netflix app on the device.

an_islandgirl: Good to hear you fixed your problem. It's an odd solution to be sure. I tried it just now but no luck on my end.

bobwild: Good to know it's not a general "Netflix doesn't work in Canada" problem. I have a 3rd gen device though so I wonder if there's a difference in the two apps or possibly a difference in the ATV's OS?

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Answer 8

Apr 23, 2015 6:43 PM in response to smithjg2

Did you resolve this issue? If you didn't, I am curious whether you have IPv6 connectivity to IPv6 sites, such as http://ipv6.google.com

Disabling IPv6 routing outside of my network seems to resolve it for me. This is annoying, since for certain work I am doing I need my IPv6 connectivity.

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Answer 9

qpc68

Level 1

0 points

May 7, 2015 2:37 AM in response to an_islandgirl

Resolved same issue using the restriction workaround. Pretty broken way of solving the issue. I have had my AppleTV for years and this issue just started for me a week or so ago. None of the "Troubleshooting" provided by Apple solved this issue.

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