Apple's TV App Currently Has Misleading Pricing for Movies [Updated]

[MacRumors]

The TV app available on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV has an issue with inaccurate price listings for some titles, a MacRumors reader discovered this morning.

The "Movies" section of the TV app has a "Browse by Price" section that lists movies for $4.99, $6.99, $7.99, and $9.99, but many of the movies available in those sections are more expensive.

In the $4.99 section, for example, there are movies that include "10 Things I Hate About You," "Mean Girls," "Napoleon Dynamite," "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "Crazy Stupid Love," "The Witch," and many more that are far more expensive than $4.99.

Most of the titles, in fact, are $14.99, with the exception of "10 Things I Hate About You," which is $17.99. There are fewer errors in the $6.99 and up sections, but there are still some issues. "Now You See Me," for example, is listed in the $12.99 section, but is priced at $4.99.

Apple also has pricing errors in other parts of the TV app. In the section "Family Movie Night" that's advertising movies under $10 for a limited time, "Mulan" is listed, but when you click on it, it's priced at $19.99. The same is true of "Onward," "The New Mutants," and several other movies that are shown in the section.

Clicking on the "Family Movie Night" section sometimes displays a different set of movies than are shown on the main page and sometimes it displays the movies with inaccurate pricing, so it's not quite clear what's going on with the TV app, but Apple definitely has some serious errors to address.

These errors are persistent across the TV app on multiple platforms, including Mac, iPhone, and Apple TV.

Update: Apple has now removed the browse by pricing options from the TV app, as well as the Family Movie Night section that was listing inaccurate pricing for movies.

Article Link: Apple's TV App Currently Has Misleading Pricing for Movies [Updated]

 

[GermanSuplex]

I remember when they accidentally put the whole Harry Potter franchise on sale for $9.99, but it was supposed to be $59.99.

That was a much better "mistake"

 

[ArPe]

The copy errors are the best. Sometimes movie titles are in Indonesian or Thai when it’s a Hollywood movie.

But Prime has the best errors. It must be the advanced AI they use. AI are so smart they will replace all of us.

Me: Hi AI Chef make me a Californian Roll.

AI: One moment sir let me process your order. Brrrr Brrr click clack brrrrr

A rolled map of California is served by robo waiter.

 

[alexandr]

maybe it's the price for "rent with an option to buy"?

 

[Bornee35]

It's clearly filtering by the rental price

 

[MacHiavelli]

None of those films are worth more than $1 ...

The prices charged are just insane.

 

[rubenhas]

It's clearly filtering by the rental price

That’s not how those sections work.

 

[FSMBP]

That is totally not fetch.

 

[Mike_Trivisonno]

I seems to be working ok on my AppleTV.

 

[gnasher729]

Legal situation will be interesting. I suppose they can always give you a refund and block the movie from playing on your device - obviously if you watched it, you can't unwatchable it. I admit that I bought a few items at _very_ low prices, like complete Mozart symphonies boxset for £9.99 years ago, a week later it was £59.99.

 

[dannyyankou]

There are fewer errors in the $6.99 and up sections, but there are still some issues. "Now You See Me," for example, is listed in the $12.99 section, but is priced at $4.99.

To make matters stranger, Now You See Me is in both the $4.99 and $12.99 section, and has the correct price in both sections depending on which one you choose.

 

[Art Mark]

Databases and humans. And studios perhaps changing prices and perhaps some auto generated metrics.

 

[CarlJ]

The prices on the movies are not misleading, they’re quite clearly marked. What is misleading is they tagged a bunch of movies to be in a sale section but the sale isn’t underway. Left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing - possibly the sale timeframe got moved or reconsidered.

 

[TomaxXamot]

That is totally not fetch.

Gretchen, stop trying to make fetch happen!

 

[dannyyankou]

It's clearly filtering by the rental price

There's a $12.99 section. I've yet to see a movie rental listed at $13, but I don't watch movies much so I don't know.

 

[lkrupp]

None of those films are worth more than $1 ...

The prices charged are just insane.

Does that mean you prefer torrent piracy?

 

[Franklin Klein]

Off topic but why is "rent to buy" still not an option...I can see them offering "buy rental within 24 hrs to save 25%!" At the very least "apply your rental cost toward the purchase of the movie".

 

[MN7119]

Never understood why anyone would pay to watch movies on Apple TV. I always compare their rates with Amazon Prime and in most cases Amazon is cheaper for the same movie.

 

[ArPe]

Does that mean you prefer torrent piracy?

Generation Cheapskate wants everything for free. They want slave Uber drivers to pick them up and deliver food. They cry like a baby when Netflix charges an extra dollar.

Then they complain why their salaries aren’t going up and the rich keep getting richer. Theses spoilt kids don’t realize they are depressing their salaries and making themselves poor by behaving cheap.

 

[7493920]

To make matters stranger, Now You See Me is in both the $4.99 and $12.99 section, and has the correct price in both sections depending on which one you choose.


View attachment 1755354View attachment 1755355

It's only the 4K version that is on sale, the HD version is the higher price.

 

[hybrid_x]

They're still $4.99 or less to rent. The interface doesn't say anywhere whether the category is to rent or buy.

There are very few movies I actually want to buy, at any price.

 

[Michael Scrip]

To make matters stranger, Now You See Me is in both the $4.99 and $12.99 section, and has the correct price in both sections depending on which one you choose.


View attachment 1755354View attachment 1755355

Why are there two different runtimes?

Extended edition?

 

[wigby]

Never understood why anyone would pay to watch movies on Apple TV. I always compare their rates with Amazon Prime and in most cases Amazon is cheaper for the same movie.

Amazon Prime requires $119/year membership fee so part of that is subsidizing the price difference you see.

 

[The_Gream]

I think the bigger issues is: IMO the Apple TV app is 💩 when trying to find stuff. I just dug through mine, and I don’t have the carousel that has the different price groups to pick on. I do have some carousels that show different price tiers and movies in those tiers. IMO when Apple broke iTunes up, the shopping experience became way worse - hence the reason when I go to search and buy something I still use the iTunes Store. I am a big anime fan: Apple TV app has an Animation section under the TV section, but it only list the “top animation”, while in iTunes Store I can go into the TV section > genre Animation > Anime.

I like Apple products, but I swear their shopping software/apps get worse and worse with every change. Just give us better filters so we can see what we want to see.

 

[MN7119]

Movie purchase prices are generally the same between all platforms due to studio agreements. Rental prices change based on timing windows and exclusive offers. I'm seeing many Amazon Prime rentals about $1 cheaper than Apple, but remember, Amazon Prime requires $119/year membership fee so you are paying for reduced rental pricing no matter what.

Agree BUT if I am already paying $119/year membership for Prime which I easily recover just in shipping fees I would otherwise pay to get everything I buy from them, when deciding to rent a movie I always find it to be at least $1 cheaper than Apple so if you have a Prime membership it makes no sense to rent from Apple TV.