Apple TV won't play purchased content

Apple TV 2 and Apple TV 3 - Software version 6.2.1 - same problem happening on both of my Apple TV devices.
I have almost full access to the iTunes store from both of my Apple TV devices. I can access Netflix and I can make iTunes purchases of movies and songs, etc. When I try to watch the movie I've purchased, it begins to load, goes to "authorizing" and then I get the message: "iTunes is currently unavailable. Try again later." This has been happening since last weekend. I talked to numerous representatives who really never helped and seemed to just try and placate me with a generic answer that would get me off their phone so that they could move on to a problem they COULD solve. The last rep, who was supposed to be a higher level rep told me that a server was down and it would come back in 24-48 hours. I didn't believe him when he said it and clearly that wasn't the problem since I am still having problems. AGAIN TODAY I've tried everything I can think of including restarting over and over, reseting the Apple TV and finally restoring the Apple TV to factory settings, which seems to have disabled my iTunes account and required me to go to "iForgot" to reset my password. I did all of this which took at least an hour of my time and in the end, I get the same error. Over the years I have spent literally thousands of dollars on content that I cannot access. I have read older issues where people have had similar problems but they usually get a few minutes into the movie before that happens. I can't get the movie (or song, etc.) to even start to play. I can get the movie to play from my iPad though. I have reopened my case. I am so frustrated right now because I have movies that I bought that I can't watch. Any ideas??

I have been getting frustrated with this as well.
I purchase content on my iMac, download it to my HDD then normally access that content on my ATV via "Home Sharing." Prior to the iOS 8 and Yosemite updates to all of the devices, this scenario worked perfectly.
Ever since the updates have been installed, I have to reboot EVERYTHING (router, iMac, ATV) to get my iTunes library show up on the ATV, then after I watch a movie and come back to watch another, I have to reboot EVERYTHING again.
My fix has been to unplug the ATV and access my Ultraviolet movies on my PS3 until such time as Apple can come up with a proper fix. It's nice to have a device that works properly.

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Apple tv won't play purchased movies. Message itunes unavailable

Getting very frustrated. We have a large library of movies and music which we are unable to watch. We have a good wifi connection, latest software versions, have turned every on and off etc etc but keep getting the same message. "I tunes is currently unavailable. Try again later". We have been trying for days!!
Not impressed. Is any one else suffering from the same un explained problems.?

Hello Helen.
There is another thread on this topic here: itunes is currently unavailable
This is happening to loads of people including myself. Haven't been able to access content since last week. My ID won't work, but my husband's will. Tried logging out/in, rebooting ATV, rebooting router - everything - to no avail. From what I'm reading, this problem lies with Apple and everyone is waiting anxiously for them to fix it. As it's Thanksgiving week in the US, I don't know how soon they will fix it. All I know is I'm not spending any more money on Itunes until fixed.

Apple TV will not play purchased content

On Oct 13th, I was able to use my Apple TV account to purchase a new movie which we watched that evening.
However, on Oct 14th, we were not able to watch it or any other of our 20+ movies we have purchased from the iTunes store / Apple TV.
When we click on the Play icon, the icon spins for a moment then returns us to the previous screen.
Has anyone else had this happen recently?

See https://discussions.apple.com/message/23399558#23399558#23399558

1stGen Apple TV Won't Play Newly Purchased Movies

I have a 1stGen Apple TV and just purchased 2 movies on my computer via the iTunes Store. When I try to play them on my 1stGen Apple TV It shows the movies on my "Shared Movies" Menue, but won't play the content. On the main menue it shows them at being 0sec long. I can navigate through the movie content menues, but can not play any of the content. All other movies work just fine, just these newly purchased ones....I have tried everything and nothing works.

You might try copying the HD movies to your desktop, then deleting the listing and original from iTunes, iTunes should then let you re-download an SD version for the Apple TV 1. You can then re-import the HD version from your desktop.

Apple TV not playing purchased content. iTunes account Issue?

Like many others, I'm having issues getting Apple TV to play purchased content for a specific iTunes account. After hitting the play button, the movie or TV show thinks about it then reverts back to the information page. This has been happening for just under a week.
I have two other accounts on my Apple TV, and they are both working OK. I asked another mate with an Apple TV to load my account onto his unit and he gets the same issue.
In an attempt to rectify the issue I have:
Reset my password fo itunes. No luck.
Restored the factory settings on the Apple TV. No luck.
Double check account and billing details. No Luck.
I really want to get this resolved. Can someone suggest a fix please!

SOLVED.
I had the same problem minutes ago... I solved it by signing out my apple id from the apple tv and then sign in again. Movies start playing now! Hope this works for you too

IPod won't play purchased music from iTunes Store

My iPod won't play purchased songs from the iTunes Store. They play on my computer, using iTunes, through the iPod, but my iPod won't play the songs with headphones, or in my BOSE speaker station, nor in my car using my Belker radio adapter. I've purchased a few songs before, and haven't had this problem. I wasn't prompted, as I have been before, to enter in a password before playing the songs.

i have the same problem, and i looks like there are another 4 or 5 discussion threads with the same prob. my ipod is about 14months old, got one of the first 4th generations when they came out -- have never had a problem, then when i downloaded itunes 6, all of a sudden everything i have purchased since then plays fine on my computer and just keeps scrolling thru and not playing on my ipod. very very frustrating. i have tried everything, right down to a complete restore on it, and nothing helps. also, when i downloaded itunes6, my purchased music playlist disapeared -- i spent 2 weeks and 5 emails going back and forth with tech support because they wouldn't address the issue, and am wary of going to them with this one. i thought the drive or memory on the ipod was corrupted and was going to buy another one, but now i'm not so sure -- is anyone having this issue with a 5th generation? because what it looks like is itunes 6 downloads may not be compatible with 4th G, and that makes me a little cranky. any one find a solution for this yet?
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Apple TV won't play TV shows that are fully downloaded in my library.

Hi,
My Apple TV won't play TV shows that are fully downloaded in my library. It says it will take 6 hours to load a 50 minute episode. It suggests to change the picture resolution, yet this till says it will take hours to uplaod. Is anyone else having this problem, and how do I fix it? I only bought the thing last week, and really feel ripped off. Thanks in advance.

Raul Zero wrote:
Well, if the size of my iPhoto library is the problem, I would have hoped that Apple would have mentioned that when we were on the phone for two hours. But yes, that is a possibility. I have about 260 events containing about 26,000 photos.
I agree, they should now what kind of limitations might apply.
Again, the issue may not be iPhoto per se, but something in iTunes or the interface between the two that just struggles above a certain number of files.
I was able to view photos before I upgraded my apple TV to v3 software but it was not reliable. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. And it was always slow.
There were occasional posts about people with slow performance on AppleTV who had huge music libraries - not in terms of storage size, just overall numbers of songs/albums etc.
AppleTV is not a particularly high spec device compared to any modern computer so long lists of music files or photos/events might overload it. Trouble is here, itunes is just flat refusing to recognise your photos to even attempt to stream them.

My Apple TV freezes when playing HD content

My Apple TV freezes when playing HD content from my iTunes account via Home Share, it does not do it with SD programmes, do I need a better Wi-Fi connection? Would Airport Express help?

When does it pause? Every few minutes or much later?
All HD titles or just some at specific points?
Try playing something - pause it immediately and let the blue bar fill a fair bit before playing - does that then play ok?

Phone won't play purchased ??

My iPhone won't play purchased songs after I synced with my iTunes. Any ideas ??

Could you be more specific?
The songs get synced but don't play or they won't sync at all?
What happens when you try to play? Do you get a message?
Are you logged into the iTines and App stores on the phone?

1st Gen Apple TV won't play iTunes purchased movie

I purchased a movie (not HD) on iTunes and cannot play it on my 1st gen Apple TV. My older movies are still there to be viewed. Any thoughts?

Does it appear in the movie list on the AppleTV1 but won't play? Does it give an error?
Try purchasing something on AppleTV1 direct - check in iTunes you may find a free episode of a TV Show or similar. I had an issue last year with new content until I purchased something else on AppleTV - i assumed it was some kind of authorisation getting updated.
AC

IPod won't play purchased music after upgrading.....

Help -
My boss has the 30g video IPod. He has upgraded his Itunes software to 7.0 and also upgraded his IPod to 1.2 (whatever the newest version is). He is not having the problems I have seen others are having but the issue he is having is that his IPod will not play his purchased music.
I did find this article (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303854) on the website and have tried everything it suggests to fix it. All the software is up-to-date, we have deauthorized and reauthorized his computer, and I have followed the instructions to recreate the Itunes Library. Still the songs won't play - he can navigate to the folder of purchased music on the IPod and it will let him hit play but it will just display the song and album cover and then keep skipping to the next song - never actually playing the song.
Can anyone please give me some advice for what else to try? If all else fails he would like to just restore his IPod and go back to ITunes 6.0. I tried this by uninstalling ITunes 7 and then installing 6 again but when I open 6 it says it can not be opened because the library was created by a newer version of ITunes. Can anyone tell me how to fix this?
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!!!
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I have this exact same problem since I bought my new 80GB iPod.
All purchased songs play fine in iTunes on my Mac but they just skip past each track when I try to play on my iPod. As mentioned above I have tried the advice Apple give and have restored my iPod and recreated library but I still have the same problems.

Mapped Drive to a OS X Shared Folder won't play purchased videos in iTunes

I have a MacBook Pro sharing out a folder where all my purchased movies are stored. I've got a Vista box to which I've added the full library. All the music has shown up, but none of the movies or TV shows. They won't play from the shared directory.
If I move the files locally, they play fine, so there must be some permissions issue with the files. I can read/write to the directory.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

HAve you seen these video FAQs?
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/store/video/

HT204400 Apple TV won't play anything with different password

I recently changed my password and now Apple TV will not play anything I purchased with the old password. Can anyone tell me how to resolve this?
Cheers

Thanks. I will troubleshoot per your direction.
A little more to add to the issue is that the usual problem (80% of the time) is the error "This content requires HDCP for playback. HDCP isn't supported by your HDMI connection. This content requires HDCP for playback" so I hope this is also a network issue as you suggest.

Apple tv won't play my movies movies without authorization.

I am really frustrated now. I have complained about this is recently, but things seemed to have worked themselves out. I am really annoyed that everytime I try to watch a movie on my hotel TV, through Apple TV it asks for computer authoriztion, for the content that I purchased.
Please help me..someone.

Yes, this is a right pain in the neck with AppleTV2 that did not seem to affect AppleTV1 in quite the same way.
I'm not clear if you have an internet connection or not, but from memory without one (when I tried using AppleTV 2 to play some pucrhased Mickey Mouse cartoons on vacation streamin from a Mac Mini), AppleTV2 falls over trying to authorise. Same issue if trying to Airplay purchased content from an iPad/iPhone. Of course home brewed content played fine as it did not need authorisation.
My solution in the end was to hook the Mini up to the TV via HDMI and use that instead - no need for authorisation on playback it seemed.
It's quite galling that you legitimately purchase media and can't play it.
(AppleTV1 worked better in this regard, even without an internet connectiuon if things had been previously played back - I think).
AC

Iphone won't play purchased music

Songs ripped from cds play fine, even songs purchased from the iphone play fine. But songs purchased on my mac now won't play on the iphone. I have been away from home for a couple of weeks, so no sync recently. The music stops, the pause button changes to a play button, and pressing play doesn't work; the pause button quickly shifts back to play button. Thanks for any help.

If you have all music that was purchased from the iTunes store in one playlist and you are syncing selected playlists, deselect this playlist under the Music tab for your iPhone sync preferences with iTunes followed by a sync to remove all music that was purchased from the iTunes store from your iPhone. Follow this by reselecting the playlist followed by a sync to re-transfer the music to your iPhone to see if this makes any difference.
If you don't have a single playlist or multiple playlists for all music that was purchased from the iTunes store to deselect and reselect, deselect Sync Music under the Music tab for your iPhone sync preferences followed by a sync which will remove all music from your iPhone. Follow this by reselecting Sync Music and selecting the playlists, artists, or genres you want transferred to your iPhone followed by a sync.

Apple TV won't play purchased content

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