Google Play Movies & TV is getting a shutdown date, again. Google previously sent out an email to users saying "Google Play Movies & TV is going away on 05 October 2023," but 9to5Google spotted a new support page that says January 17, 2024, is the new shutdown date. It's not entirely clear why there are two shutdown dates, but the October 5 shutdown definitely happened in the US; perhaps this message is for international users.
Google's page says that in January, "Google Play Movies & TV will no longer be available on Android TV devices or the Google Play website." This should be the last of the Google Play Movies brand. Phones and tablets have already switched to a "Google TV" app (not to be confused with the Google TV OS), and the Play Store abandoned media sales in 2022.
With the one-stop-shop Play Store dead, Google says your purchased content will now be in different apps, depending on what Google platform you're on. The support page says: "On TVs and streaming devices powered by Android TV," purchased content is in the "Shop" tab but on "cable boxes or set-top boxes powered by Android TV" the content will be in the YouTube app. On the web, purchased content is on YouTube.com.
I'm unsure if there is any discernible difference between an "Android TV streaming device" and an "Android TV set-top box," but that is what the instructions say. Google's TV lineup is now so complicated I think even the support page is messing things up. One of those was probably meant to reference Google TV, not Android TV, which is a second, slightly different Android-based TV OS made by Google. Earlier, Google mentioned content will now be spread across "Android TV devices, Google TV devices, the Google TV mobile app (Android and iOS), and YouTube," and then neglected to go into detail about Google TV.
Wherever your purchased content ends up, Google says the changes will happen "over the next few weeks depending on your location and country."
reader comments
79