I'm based in Poland and last year I bought John Carpenter's Halloween on Apple TV in 4K resolution. At the time, this movie wasn't available in my region in high quality, and although it lacked Polish voiceover or subtitles, I was eager to get the best video quality possible. Just today, I opened the app and saw that the movie now shows an HD icon instead of 4K. It's also no longer listed for purchase on Apple TV in my area. I've heard that Apple usually upgrades movies to 4K when they become available, but I've never encountered a situation where a movie previously purchased in 4K was downgraded to HD without any notice. Oddly enough, it still appears as a 4K release on Cheap Charts. Is there anything I can do about this situation?
3 Answers
Purchased content usually stays available for download from Apple, but it can be removed if the rights to that content change. It's unfortunate, but licensing agreements can be complex. Just try to download your purchases to ensure access.
Have you tried reaching out to Apple? I know the licensing can be weird, but since you paid for it, they should consider refunding you if they can't provide what you originally bought.
Yes, I contacted them, but I haven't received an answer yet.
To prevent issues like this, downloading the movies you buy is a good practice to keep them in their original format. The studios or rights holders control what titles are available and in which formats. Apple just acts as a storefront, so if a studio decides to downgrade a title, Apple has to comply. If the 4K version comes back, make sure to download it right away!
Thank you, I will do that.
It's terribly unfair. I thought if the license expired, Apple couldn't sell the movie in that format anymore, but if it was already purchased, nothing would change. Guess I was wrong.