Apple TV Purchases Lost to Changing Region

Question

Apple TV Purchases Lost to Changing Region

This is not really a question more of a statement or a slight rant! I wanted to be heard and I felt that Apple, even though they said they understood my issue, I don't believe that they listened.

I recently moved from the UK to Hong Kong with my family. We have a young daughter who is only 4, so as you can imagine she's has a thing for Disney and all things princesses, so we had a lot of films of that genre.

By moving country's we also had to move our bank accounts, I was instructed by Apple TV / iTunes to change regions and update payment methods and to my surprise as we did I lost ALL the movies which we had bought over the last few years!!!

I have just spoken to apple support and all they said was 'If I returned back to the UK I could change my region and reopen these movies'

Just a little bit shocked really, yes it might said this or words to this effect in the terms and conditions but I still feel apple owe it to their customer as a 'Duty of Care' and explain when a customer is buying a movie, that this product is not transferable to another region etc.

Anyway, I'm now looking for a new music streaming service and somewhere where I can purchase movies that I can watch cross boarders, any suggestions??

Rant over, thanks for listening!!

Chris

powerbook, Mac OS X (10.3.x), null

Posted on Dec 20, 2016 6:52 AM

Reply

Answer 1

vazandrew

Level 8

40,930 points

Oct 9, 2017 11:35 AM in response to Colin Davis

Nope, it is a copyright issue and has nothing to do with Apple. Same reason services like Netflix have differences between regions and it was also the studios who forced them to crack down on VPN use

Reply

Answer 2

Oct 9, 2017 10:26 AM in response to vazandrew

I respectfully disagree. There might be _some_ studio involvement but I think the lion's share rests with Apple.

Apple has this lock on all of their products (including apps) purchased from the iTunes store. The apps I have purchased (Like Scanner Pro) should be transferred over to my same apple account in the UK but they are not. There is no difference in the app.

Additionally, if they won't transfer my purchase over to the UK version of the iTunes store, they shouldn't _prevent_ me from accessing my legacy content on my AppleTV. As I understand it, there is no way for me to access the content I purchased in the US.

Colin

Reply

Answer 3

vazandrew

Level 8

40,930 points

Oct 10, 2017 5:08 AM in response to Colin Davis

That is still based on licensing/copyright, any purchases in the account are tied to that location and you only have the right to access when you are residing there.

Reply

Answer 4

vazandrew

Level 8

40,930 points

Oct 9, 2017 5:29 AM in response to Colin Davis

Has nothing to do with Apple, as explained it’s the studios and would happen no matter what platform You’re using. You would need to complain to them.

Reply

Answer 5

Oct 9, 2017 2:57 AM in response to Chrismartink6

I have the same complaint - I moved from the US to the UK and all my iTunes store purchases (Apps, movies, etc.) are all lost and have been told I have to rebuy them if I want to access them here.

This is a terrible policy and makes no sense to me. Why can't I access Logan or any of my other movies in 4k over here? So frustrating.

Colin

Reply

Answer 6

Oct 10, 2017 4:21 AM in response to vazandrew

So why are Apps purchased I've purchased in the US not available to me in the UK? There are no studios involved.

Reply

Answer 7

Dec 20, 2016 10:49 AM in response to Chrismartink6

Hi. You know, it's the doggone content owners (studios), because they limit what can go where. So, Apple only sells content to a given region. Change region and poof! all gone.

Reply