Apple TV Gains TV Show Purchasing and Streaming in Australia, Canada, and UK

Several MacRumors readers have reported that Apple has rolled out new Apple TV support for streaming purchased television shows in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Users in those countries have been able to rent movies directly on the Apple TV, but purchased content was required to be downloaded to a computer and then streamed to the Apple TV via Home Sharing. With the new update, purchased TV shows are simply stored in iCloud and streamed directly to the Apple TV on demand.

apple tv shows australia
TV shows on Apple TV in Australia (Source: Mac Prices Australia)

Apple TV streaming of purchased TV shows came to the United States back in August. That addition was accompanied by a new TV Shows section of the purchased items listings in iTunes, allowing users easy access to download purchased shows to any device.

Besides TV show purchases, Apple had previously offered 99-cent rentals of TV episodes. Apple discontinued that offering in August, noting that customers preferred to purchase their shows and that the new iCloud flexibility offered additional benefit to purchases.

Update: It appears that the new menu option may have been released prematurely, as a number of users are reporting that the TV show option is either not functioning or has disappeared completely.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Popular Stories

streaming black friday 2025

Black Friday Streaming Deals Include Big Savings on Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV, and More

Monday November 24, 2025 8:03 am PST by
We've been focusing on deals on physical products over the past few weeks, but Black Friday is also a great time of year to purchase a streaming membership. Some of the biggest services have great discounts for new and select returning members this week, including Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

iOS 27 Will Reportedly Have Two Key Upgrades

Sunday November 23, 2025 8:48 am PST by
iOS 27 will reportedly have two major elements: quality improvements and new AI features. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense that Apple is focused on improving "quality and underlying performance" over adding new features. Gurman said there is one exception to this rule, though, as he expects...
General Black Friday Deals 25 Red

Apple Black Friday Deals Available Now on AirPods, iPads, Accessories, and More

Friday November 21, 2025 8:48 am PST by
We're only a few days away from Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Adds These New Features to Your iPhone

Thursday November 20, 2025 10:50 am PST by
iOS 26.2 is currently in beta testing. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics for Apple Music, and more. In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date. Keep reading...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: iPhone 18 Pro Looks Like a Huge Upgrade

Friday November 21, 2025 9:10 am PST by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through all of the new features and improvements expected to come to next year's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Apple's next-generation iPhones are less than ten months away and we already have a good idea about what to expect based on corroborated leaks, rumors,...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone to Debut These Three Breakthrough Features

Tuesday November 25, 2025 7:09 am PST by
Apple's first foldable iPhone is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in fall 2026, and it's shaping up to include three standout features that could set it apart from the competition. The book-style foldable will reportedly feature an industry-first 24-megapixel under-display camera built into the inner display, according to a recent JP Morgan equity research report. That...
apple news banner

Apple News Loses CNN

Monday November 24, 2025 7:56 am PST by
American multinational news company CNN has abruptly pulled its content from Apple News, Semafor reports. CNN quietly removed its stories from Apple News over the weekend and there is no longer a feed from the network to subscribe to in the app. This effectively ends its distribution agreement with Apple while the two sides negotiate new terms. Discussions are apparently ongoing and CNN's...
amazon black friday

Amazon Kicks Off Black Friday Sale With Major Discounts on Apple Accessories, TVs, and More

Sunday November 23, 2025 7:12 am PST by
Black Friday deals have begun, and Amazon is one of the best places you can find steep discounts on numerous products this week. We've already collected all of the best Apple-related deals you'll find at Amazon (and other retailers) in our Apple Black Friday Deals post, so below you'll find other discounts on devices like Anker accessories, Beats headphones, video games, TVs, and more. Note:...
Apple Shopping Event 2025

Apple Announces 2025 Black Friday Event, Here's What You Can Get

Thursday November 20, 2025 6:28 am PST by
Apple's annual four-day Black Friday through Cyber Monday shopping event is returning on Friday, November 28 through Monday, December 1 in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Thailand, and others. During the shopping event, customers can get an Apple gift card with...

Top Rated Comments

ipedro Avatar
182 months ago
Finally! The release of ATV2 saw the removal of the TV menu in Canada after we'd been waiting years to get it the first time. The justification was that Canada didn't get the rights to TV rentals and since the ATV2 doesn't have local storage, there was no use for the TV menu. With the death of TV rentals, it was a matter of time before the menu returned.

Nonetheless, prices are very much out of tune with the rest of the industry. You can rent unlimited tv shows on Netflix for $7.99 a month and many channels now offer their shows for free via their websites and many of them available on their apps able to be streamed to the AppleTV with AirPlay.

This has come too late for iTunes. I'd pay for a subscription to tv shows, but not $3 per episode.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GenesisST Avatar
182 months ago
Finally! No more "Is it downloaded yet?" from the wife!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MotoMaster Avatar
182 months ago
Nothing on my Apple TV for TV shows here in Ontario, Canada.

I am disappoint Apple! :(
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
flamingkitties Avatar
182 months ago
Nothing new appeared for me in the UK. No updates available, and no change after a reset.

I'm glad it's not just me. All that excitement and nowt. BAH.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
notjustjay Avatar
182 months ago
I love avoiding the hassle of going to the video store but the price differential is too steep. Here I can rent for 1$ a disk which usually includes 4 episodes, while on apple TV it costs 3,49 per episode, that makes it 14 times more expensive :mad:

$3.49 is for an HD quality video, you can drop it to standard quality and it only costs $1.99 or $2.49 or so. Even on my 47" HDTV, standard quality looks fine.

Also, keep in mind that you're paying $1 to rent those four episodes; the ones you purchase from iTunes are yours to keep rewatching forever. Whether that's actually of any value to you is of course your own opinion.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tootall Avatar
182 months ago
I love avoiding the hassle of going to the video store but the price differential is too steep. Here I can rent for 1$ a disk which usually includes 4 episodes, while on apple TV it costs 3,49 per episode, that makes it 14 times more expensive :mad:
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)