Google regularly kills off apps because of overlapping functionality with other existing services. TheGoogle Play Music app was axed in 2020, and in exactly one week’s time, the Play Movies & TV app will meet the same fate onAndroid TV. However, this step will play a big role in decluttering the Android TV UI because Google has many apps where you can rent or purchase movies and TV shows to watch later. Google willkill the service for good on January 17, but your content won’t be impacted. Here’s why.
Google Play Movies & TV for Android TV wasofficially killed on August 17, 2025, and come January 17, it won’t show up on your Android TV anymore. Instead, you’re able to transition to YouTube for your video content needs. On devices running the newer Google TV, all your Play Movies & TV content was moved to theLibrarytab a while ago.
For Android TV devices, Google clarified that the shows and movies you bought or rented out using the legacy Play Movies & TV app will remain available in theShoptab on your streaming device or smart TV. Acommunity blog postdedicated to the transition further clarifies that you may need to hit theView Allbutton in case you have a lot of shows accumulated here.
Finding content you already own in the Shop tab may seem unintuitive at first, but that may be the least of your worries. We dislike how the system separates movies from TV shows and doesn’t even offer other ways to sort your legacy content.
If you have Android TV running off a set-top box instead of on asmart TV, your content will be moved to the YouTube app. You can also use YouTube to continue buying movies and renting them temporarily. Content on YouTube may not be in the full 4K resolution, and you may have to put up with several ads before getting to the show you wanted to watch. Sorting options could be amiss here as well.
What’s the difference between Google TV and Android TV?
The lowdown on Google’s two TV platforms
There is another minor caveat, though — support for buying and renting new movies and shows through YouTube is onlyavailable in 46 countries, including the US, UK, Australia, Germany, France, and Canada. The list is short, but we hope this availability expands in the future.
In case you aren’t sure where your shows are available in the wake of this shutdown, you canaccess purchased contentthrough the web as well, because all the purchases, including rentals which are due, are linked to your Google account. Play Movies & TV users in the US can use the Library tab on the YouTube website to view this content and access it later.
On the one hand, the Play Movies & TV shutdown brings the focus back to other entertainment-related services the brand owns on the Android TV platform, such as YouTube. However, Google has been shutting down services left, right, and center, and it can quickly get frustrating if you use a lot of them. For instance, we lost Stadia, Google Duo, Google Domains, and Pixel Pass in 2023,just to name a few. The list ofevery single shutdownis a long one.
