Google is Shutting Down Play Movies & TV on Smart TVs

Google revealed this week that it will replace its Play Movies & TV app on LG, Samsung, and Vizio Smart TVs with the YouTube app.

“Starting June 15, 2021, the YouTube app will be your new home for movies and shows on Roku, Samsung, LG, and Vizio smart TVs,” Google says. “The Google Play Movies & TV app will no longer be available on these devices. To access all of your previous purchases, log into the YouTube app using the account you use on Google Play Movies & TV, navigate to the ‘Library’ tab, and click on ‘Your movies and shows’.”

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Google has been working to replace Play Movies & TV with Google TV on mobile and on its Android TV platform, but it appears that it won’t be offering this new app on smart TVs, at least for now. The purpose of the old app, at least on smart TVs, is to provide customers with a way to access their libraries of purchased content and to let them buy new content and rent movies. Only the former capability is available in YouTube, and long has been, but users have plenty of options for renting movies.

And Play Movies & TV is still available on iPhone and Apple TV for some reason. On those platforms, the app is truly constrained because customers can’t use them to buy/rent content because of Apple’s anticompetitive business practices, so just using YouTube instead makes sense there as well.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 7 comments

  • mikegalos

    13 April, 2021 - 10:20 am

    <p>And THIS is why I buy physical media.</p>

    • jgraebner

      Premium Member
      13 April, 2021 - 7:00 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#622779">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p>I get what you mean, but it isn't really applicable in this case. The purchases aren't going away. Google is just consolidating two apps into one.</p>

  • sirdilbert

    Premium Member
    13 April, 2021 - 11:06 am

    <p>Is there any wind of Google also combining the Youtube TV app with the Youtube app? To me that would make sense for those who utilize Youtube TV.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      14 April, 2021 - 9:51 am

      Agree. But not that I’ve heard.

  • scovious

    13 April, 2021 - 4:20 pm

    <p>Google is still trying to sell Movies and TV in the age of streaming video, through a streaming video website? How smart.</p>

  • anderstone

    13 April, 2021 - 4:24 pm

    <p>Sony's 2021 TVs come with Google TV, so it being offered on some smart TVs.</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      14 April, 2021 - 8:43 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#622884">In reply to anderstone:</a></em></blockquote><p>Don't hold your breath. I bought a Sony Bravia with Android TV, it got a whole 8 months of support, before security updates were cancelled. The TV has been offline for about 3 years now.</p><p>I won't buy another smartTV, it just isn't worth it (or at least, I'll never buy a smartTV based on its smart features, just on image and sound quality and ports).</p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC