Why do some movies get removed from iCloud?

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Level 1

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Why do some movies get removed from iCloud?

Why do some movies get removed from iCloud? I know that agreements sometimes change for movies over time, but I've noticed some seemingly odd removals from my purchased library recently (meaning I cannot see them on AppleTV or in my Purchases on iTunes):

Her (2013)

Frozen (a relatively new Disney movie which I'm sure was previously in the cloud)

4 of the 8 Harry Potter movies (Chamber of Secrets extended version, Deathly Hallows Part 1, Half-Blood Prince, Goblet of Fire)

Knight and Day

It would be interesting if anyone else can confirm these same movies have been removed from iCloud and that it's not just some odd problem with my account. I find the issue with 4 of the 8 Harry Potter movies having been removed to be very odd.

Thanks

John

Posted on Jan 4, 2015 7:23 AM

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Answer 1

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,336 points

Jan 4, 2015 7:39 AM in response to John Kinard

Rights-holders/film studios occasionally remove films from a country's store - any item (film, music album etc) could be removed at any time, you should be keeping and maintaining a backup copy of your purchases.

What country are you in ? I can see those Harry Potter films here in the UK and in the US stores. Is it possible that you've hidden them : iTunes Store: Hiding and unhiding purchases ?

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Answer 2

John Kinard Author

Level 1

18 points

Jan 21, 2015 4:00 PM in response to King_Penguin

Thanks for your reply. I do understand that the rights-holders may remove films from the store. And I do keep local copies of the movies I've purchased. AppleTV seems more geared to viewing content from the cloud, although it can access your local iTunes library (provided that iTunes is actually running on a Mac/PC on your local network).

I've checked and found that these movies are not hidden from me in my iTunes account settings.

More info: In iTunes, I created a Smart Playlist with the following rules: "Media Kind is Movie" and "iCloud Status is Not Purchased". The resulting list shows these movies with a cloud icon showing a line through the cloud. When I click on that icon, it says "This item is not eligible for iCloud."

Now, these movies were all purchased on my account and used to be in iCloud at one point, but something has happened so that they are not. I would love for someone else who has purchased these same movies to confirm that they are not in iCloud. Just seems odd... especially the Harry Potter movies (since half of them remain in iCloud).

Perhaps I need to contact iTunes support directly and ask that they verify these movies as no longer being in iCloud.

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Answer 3

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,336 points

Jan 22, 2015 12:00 AM in response to John Kinard

I'm not sure how reliable the 'icloud status is not purchased' is for films, of the two films that I've got in this computer's iTunes library both are showing that status, but both also show in the Purchased as being in the store (though not redownloadable as I still have them in my library) - the 'icloud status' is mainly for use with iTunes Match to see the status of tracks that have/haven't been uploaded to it.

I don't have those films, but it's also possible that the copies of those films are not the ones that you bought e.g. the rights-holder has removed and replaced them with new versions

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Answer 4

John Kinard Author

Level 1

18 points

Jan 22, 2015 4:05 PM in response to King_Penguin

When you're browsing in the iTunes Store, is there a way to know if a movie is going to be available in iCloud before you purchase it?

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Answer 5

King_Penguin

Level 10

334,336 points

Jan 22, 2015 11:43 PM in response to John Kinard

No. I'm not sure if it's still the case but it used to be that some film studios didn't allow the redownloading of their films, in which case their films wouldn't show in the cloud for redownloading - whether all studios now allow redownloading I'm not 100% sure. As well as potentially removing a film from the store (in which case it will no longer be in the cloud), studios could remove a film and replace it with a new version, which you wouldn't be able to download without purchasing it

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