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Q: Steaming same iTunes Account from Multiple AppleTVs?

I have 5 AppleTVs in my house - one for every TV.  I have purchased many movies over the years, under 1 iTunes account.  Each of these 5 AppleTVs is logged in under the same username.  We have had issues with an error that comes up and states "Too many of your devices are playing content from the itunes store at the same time." This only occurs when we have 3 devices already streaming, and try to add a 4th (lucky for me, there are 4 people in my house, so it's inevitable that one of my kids starts to watch something, and gets this error message!).  It appears as though Apple limits the number of AppleTVs that can stream from an iTunes account concurrently, to 3.  Does anyone know a workaround, or a way to escalate to Apple?  I paid thousands of dollars, and went all-in on their iTunes platform for all of my movie purchases, and am now locked into a platform with constraints.  Pretty frustrated.  Any ideas on what I could potentially do about this?  Thanks!

Posted on Feb 4, 2016 9:39 AM

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Q: Steaming same iTunes Account from Multiple AppleTVs?

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  • by Protodd,

    Protodd Protodd Feb 4, 2016 10:20 AM in response to cfc0d3r
    Level 4 (2,069 points)
    Feb 4, 2016 10:20 AM in response to cfc0d3r

    You should take a moment to verify the devices associated with your Apple ID.  I'm not aware of any limitations on the number of active streams.  But that doesn't mean there isn't one just that I am unaware...

     

    View and remove associated devices in iTunes - Apple Support


    You can have 10 devices (a maximum of 5 computers) associated with your Apple ID and iTunes at one time. Computers and devices can be associated with a different Apple ID once every 90 days. Each computer must also be authorized using the same Apple ID. You don't need to authorize your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

  • by Alley_Cat,

    Alley_Cat Alley_Cat Feb 4, 2016 10:27 AM in response to Protodd
    Level 6 (19,583 points)
    Feb 4, 2016 10:27 AM in response to Protodd

    AppleTVs never used to be counted in my experience, they certainly never turned up in the list of associated devices in iTunes.

     

    This is a retrograde step if true.  Which models, and which are showing the error?

     

    A workaround may be to set up Family Sharing allowing other members to log in on a particular AppleTV (say kid's bedroom) and share purchased content with you as overall purchaser, but it would be very annoying if the limit also applied to Family Shares.

  • by Alley_Cat,

    Alley_Cat Alley_Cat Feb 4, 2016 10:28 AM in response to cfc0d3r
    Level 6 (19,583 points)
    Feb 4, 2016 10:28 AM in response to cfc0d3r

    Send feedback, as I've never seen this issue before:

     

    http://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html

  • by Protodd,

    Protodd Protodd Feb 4, 2016 10:32 AM in response to Alley_Cat
    Level 4 (2,069 points)
    Feb 4, 2016 10:32 AM in response to Alley_Cat

    Alley_Cat wrote:

     

    AppleTVs never used to be counted in my experience, they certainly never turned up in the list of associated devices in iTunes.

    Agreed.  ATVs are not included in the device limits, just a thought that there may be some antiquated devices that could be part of the OPs issue.  i had a similar issue of not being able to stream on my iPad, I omitted the unnecessary devices on my account and the issue with my iPad was resolved...

  • by Alley_Cat,

    Alley_Cat Alley_Cat Feb 4, 2016 12:35 PM in response to cfc0d3r
    Level 6 (19,583 points)
    Feb 4, 2016 12:35 PM in response to cfc0d3r

    I assume this is streaming past media purchases from the 'cloud'.

     

    Until quite recently I had always streamed on the LAN using Computers icon having downloaded to iTunes first as my broadband was poor for on demand HD - if you don't mind having stuff stored locally and a Mac on with iTunes to act as a file server that should work via the Computers icon.

  • by cfc0d3r,

    cfc0d3r cfc0d3r Feb 4, 2016 12:43 PM in response to Alley_Cat
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 4, 2016 12:43 PM in response to Alley_Cat

    Thank you Alley_Cat and Protodd!

     

    I have been streaming to-date, and I thought about storing movies locally, and that may be the way to do it in the end, however, I would need to buy more hard drive space to do so, given the immense amount of movies I have (almost 300).  The only workaround I can think of is to have multiple Apple IDs on a family share plan.  That would likely do the trick, then the other IDs can see the movies on my main Apple ID.  In theory, I would only have to do this on 2 of the 5 AppleTVs to guarantee we could play up to 5 at the same time.

     

    I will report the issue to Apple to see what they have to say about it as well.  Thanks!

  • by Protodd,Solvedanswer

    Protodd Protodd Feb 4, 2016 12:51 PM in response to cfc0d3r
    Level 4 (2,069 points)
    Feb 4, 2016 12:51 PM in response to cfc0d3r

    FWIW. I have about 900 movies/tvshows that I keep on an external 3tb USB my and I stream locally.  I got that external HD at a bestbuy sale for $50!  This has been esecially convenient as my cabin has very slow internet so I  can't even stream HD but with home share I watch HD whenever.  Not to mention the added convenience of loading to my iphone/iPad when I travel...

  • by cfc0d3r,

    cfc0d3r cfc0d3r Feb 4, 2016 1:58 PM in response to Protodd
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 4, 2016 1:58 PM in response to Protodd

    I appreciate it Protodd.  Sounds like that will be my gameplan!  Great idea!