Apple TV Connect features
Apple TV Connect is a partner tool to check the status of your channels content and items in your catalog and availability feed. For channels content you can also check status of delivered assets. For Video App Integrations, only select partners with content featured in the Apple TV app can access Apple TV Connect.
This user guide covers the following topics:
For additional support to get started, learn about brand page programming.
Account and user setup
In order to access Apple TV Connect, you need an account. An initial Admin will be invited by Apple who can then create additional user accounts.
Learn how to add and remove users
Availability status
On the Availability tab, you can view the status of your content. If your service has multiple brands, you’ll see a brand selector where you can choose your desired brand.
On the main tab, you’ll see the status of your episodes and movies sorted by titles that are not available in your service. For Apple TV Channels services, each item’s asset status will also be listed on this view. Find specific content by movie, episode, show name, or content ID. When you search for a show name, results that appear with their cover or placeholder art will lead you to a series view.
By default, episodes that belong to the most recent season will be displayed. Choose to see episodes from a specific season or from all seasons using the By Season filter. There are also other filters to find specific use cases that can also be found on the main Availability page.
Content filters
The filters on the main page allow you to find the status of content across specific categories.
Date Selection
Filter results by dates in the blue calendar selection option. There are presets available for filtering by the current calendar week, Next 7 Days, or for all content (Lifetime), or filter by specific days, weeks, months, or custom date ranges.
By Availability
- Missing (Issues): Content that is intended to be live in the service but has an issue preventing it from being available to viewers.
- Available: Content that is currently live in your service that either has no issues or has issues that do not affect availability but should be addressed.
- Upcoming: Content that is intended to be live after the next 7 days which may or may not have an issue.
- Expired: Content that has been expired from your availability feed.
By Location
Use this filter to select one or more specific territories. You’ll only see this filter if your service is live in more than one country or territory.
By Type
Filter between episodes and movies, or filter by priority badged content only.
By Issue
For select Video App Integrations partners, you will only see No Artwork (Keyframe), No Cover Art (16:9), No Ratings, and Availability Item Not Ingested options.
- MSR Not Met: The given country does not meet minimum storefront requirements.
- No Asset: No asset has been delivered.
- No Artwork (Keyframe): There is a missing episode keyframe.
- No Cover Art (16:9): There is no 16:9 show art.
- No Ratings: There are no ratings for a given country.
- Not AVMS Compliant: Your content is missing the required metadata fields for AVMS.
- Not FFA Compliant: Your content is missing the required metadata fields for FFA.
- Not ISAN Compliant: Your content is missing the required metadata fields for ISAN.
- Quality Control: There is a quality control (QC) issue on your content.
- Availability Item Not Ingested: Apple has not ingested the availability item.
Use the export functionality next to the filters to export a list of all titles, specific search results including series view items, and filtered items.
To copy the content ID from the main Availability page, hover over the item’s image and click on the three-dot (...) menu that appears. You will have the option to copy the content ID from the menu, and if the item is live, you will also have the option to copy the Apple TV app direct link for the item.
To view specific issues for a title, you have several options. Click the status in the availability column to be taken directly to the issue details. From the main Availability tab, click on the item’s title to be taken to the item detail page. An Open Issues banner will appear at the top of the page. To see full issue details, click View Issues.
To go back to the item’s detail page, click the Back button. The detail page contains metadata and artwork you provided in your catalog feed which has been ingested by Apple. It also includes the availability window and playable properties, if provided. For Apple TV Channels, if no assets have been delivered, you‘ll see playable properties from your availability feed. Once assets are delivered, Apple will compare what is delivered to what was provided in the feed and display the reconciled values. For select Video App Integrations partners with access, locators will also show on this page.
If you are not seeing information that should be present, download the catalog and availability XML snippets under More Actions to see any discrepancies.
When an item is live, you’ll see a link to view the title on the Apple TV app under More Actions at the bottom of the page. If the link is not present, there could be an issue preventing your content from being live and you should diagnose the issue by reviewing previous sections. If the link is present, you’ll be taken to the item’s canonical page on the Apple TV app on macOS or a web version on other operating systems. A canonical page is simply a single page which shows all of the places content can be watched, including your channel’s own subscription. All references of data ingested are displayed on one product page. Our goal is to provide the best experience for our customers across all canonical product pages.
Component status
Use the Component Status tab to check the status of all your asset deliveries, including information about processing and QC statuses. Note that you’ll see all assets delivered to your provider account and cannot filter by brand.
Component Status provides you insight into which assets have processed, are currently uploading, or have failed to upload or process. Change the sorting of the Status column or any other column. If you see any items that have failed to process, reach out to your Apple Technical Partner Representative. For items that have failed to upload, make sure to check your Transporter logs for any issues.
To find a specific asset, search for a title or content ID. You can also filter results on full or preview using the By Type filter. Clicking an asset’s title or image will bring you to the detail page to view all delivered components.
You can also see if any asset has a QC issue. Click Quality Control Issues in the Status column to go directly to the full QC details. Alternatively, see full QC issues by clicking the open issues banner from the detail page.
To ensure a good experience for viewers, make sure to check for and resolve any QC issues in a timely manner.