Subscription video regional requirements

There are additional regional requirements you must meet in order for your subscription video content to go live on Apple TV Channels.

To improve the quality of content, certain territories must meet a set of minimum asset and metadata requirements. Deliveries must have at least one of the following assets tagged (using the <locale> tag) with a specified language for both the full asset and preview:

• Original audio or alternate audio
• Full subtitles (.itt)
  
• Burned-in subtitles
  

While many metadata fields like Title, Description, Poster Art, and Cast & Crew are listed as optional, they are very important to the overall experience and may be required by our editorial team in order for the content to be featured.

For complete details and a table outlining the requirements for each territory, see the Minimum Storefront Requirements section of the Partner Requirements addendum.

There are also additional requirements for the following countries. For more information on each item, see the Regional Requirements section of the Partner Requirements addendum.

• European countries - You must provide the country of origin, production country, and the original spoken locale for TV episodes, TV seasons, and movies. Bonus episodes and sporting events are included. Provide this information via the UMC Catalog Data Feed. This applies to the following countries:
• Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Croatia (HR), Cyprus (CY), Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Estonia (EE), Finland (FI), France (FR), Germany (DE), Greece (GR), Hungary (HU), Iceland (IS), Ireland (IE), Italy (IT), Latvia (LV), Liechtenstein (LI), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Malta (MT), Netherlands (NL), Norway (NO), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovakia (SK), Slovenia (SI), Spain (ES), Sweden (SE), and United Kingdom (GB).
  

• Colombia - You must provide the country of origin for TV episodes, TV seasons, and movies through the UMC Catalog Data Feed. Bonus episodes and sporting events are included.
• Germany - A movie must have a theatrical release. Theatrical releases are defined as movies that have been released in cinemas for payment in Germany to its territory of origin. If the film was not released theatrically, you are required to provide a digital release date. The dates can be provided through the UMC Catalog Data Feed.
• India - Movies sold in India that contain a smoking and/or drinking alcohol health warning must include a pre-roll with legal warning card. Refer to the Pre-Roll and Post-Roll Video Specification for more information.
• Movies in India must have either closed captions (CC) or subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing (SDH) in addition to audio description (AD). This applies to any content, including new releases or library titles, that went live in the Apple TV app after February 6, 2026. The CC/SDH and AD files should match the locale of the original spoken language. For example, if the original spoken language is en-US, the accessibility files should also be en-US. If the original spoken language of the content will not be made available with the content, the accessibility files should match the locale of one of the audio languages provided with the content.

• Switzerland - An ISAN or V-ISAN is required for movies at least 60 minutes in length distributed in Switzerland. The ISAN is entered as an externalContenId via the UMC Catalog Feed.
• United States - All Apple TV Channel deliveries in the U.S. require assets with closed captions. Refer to the Apple TV Channels Subscription Video Asset Specification for asset and XML details.