tv shows work on computer but not apple tv

I am having this issue as well. I have a 2nd generation Apple TV. I tried to restore, but it can't download the software update. Internet connection and speed are perfect. Is there internal memory that is full?

Same problem here. Any old TV shows or movies work fine, but any new TV shows purchased since Monday 04.03.2017, or that are part of a season pass, trigger an "An error occurred loading this content. Try again later." message on my AppleTV.

These shows play on my Mac and iPhone, but do not seem to work on my second-generation AppleTV. I also tried streaming these new purchases from both devices where they do work vis AirPlay as a workaround, but this does not work either, whereas there is no issue doing this with any older content through AirPlay.

I have tried everything. Removing the cables for a few minutes. Restarting and soft reboots. And finally did a whole restore with factory defaults last night. Same issues persist.

I have two Apple TVs, a 2nd and 3rd gen. My new content plays fine on the 3rd gen. I had great difficulty trying to restore my older 2nd gen unit, so I am worried that it is not updating properly or may have reached its point of obsolescence.

I'm not sure what you mean. I restored the ATV to factory defaults, reset the network connection and signed into iTunes, with still no luck. New, non previously loaded HD content will no longer pkay on my 2nd gen ATV, but will on the 3rd gen. The 2nd gen will only play SD, which suggests a network or bandwidth issue. But it's definitely the ATV itself since the other model works fine.

Not a problem, you just hadn't posted that you had since successfully restored the unit.

If you are on WiFi try Ethernet

Make sure DNS is set to auto (settings-general-network)

To see a current status of the network get a report from istumbler, netstumbler or similar. Look for signal strength, noise and nearby networks

Test on another network

All helpful ideas but they're not working for me. My second-generation ATV still refuses to play any content purchased this past week (from 04.03 onwards) but plays everything else purchased before that date without a problem. All other devices I own (Mac, iPad, iPhone) can play these new purchases.

Network is working fine. Same results on another network. All content purchased prior to last week plays on the ATV, shows purchased Monday or later do not.

New content purchased since Monday plays on all other devices. New content on all other devices will not stream to ATV either via AirPlay.

Starting to feel there was some kind of change in the file format or DRM or something at the start of this month that is causing these file to be unreadable by second generation ATVs. Cannot think of another reason since everything else plays perfectly except for these new purchases.

Thanks for the suggestions. I just tried another network this morning, but still no luck. As with the previous poster, it only began for me last week. I am able to load the SD versions, but it appears something is causing an error with the HD versions. Mine is about 6 years old at this point, so it's to be somewhat expected that it would eventually show its age.

I'm also thinking they changed the file format somehow...

I've restarted, restored over network, restored over iTunes, used on Ethernet, tried airplay - NOTHING works for content released on itunes after 03/04.

Such programmed obsolescence is incredibly frustrating. If I can't watch purchased content over my functional (albeit older, it works fine!) Apple hardware, then iTunes should reimburse season passes to ATV2 owners. Honestly, this is pushing me to buy content on another platform in the future.

I contacted Apple tech support on this issue and they indicated that it was a known issue that had a high priority. However, it's been about a week since I called and the issue is still not resolved.

We have the same problem but today I checked and I cannot open the first 3 episodes but the new episode from 4/22 will open and play. waiting to see if the others will be fixed. Don't want to start in middle of series.

Seems that a few of us are having this issue. You might want to follow this thread as well to see if there are any updates: TV shows not loading

Are you trying to restore directly or have you attempted to restore via iTunes?

You stated you were unable to restore the 2nd Gen as it was unable to load the software. So which is it?