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Google is axing the Play Movies & TV app on Android TV come October 5, 2023. You’ve got about a month left to get your last binge-watches in. But don’t freak out—your movie and TV collections aren’t vanishing. They’re just moving to the Shop tab on Android TV, and you can still buy or rent new stuff there or directly on YouTube.
This isn’t some random move by Google; they’ve been on this path for a while. Remember when Google Play was the place for not just apps, but also for music, movies, and more? Yeah, those days are long gone. Google Play Music is now YouTube Music, and Google Play Newsstand has morphed into Google News. So, cutting the Play Movies & TV app is just the latest step in Google’s “out with the old, in with the new” strategy.
If you’ve got one of the newer Google TV gadgets like the Chromecast, you might’ve noticed that the Play Movies & TV app is already history. It’s been replaced by the Google TV app, and that happened on Android phones a while back, too. For anyone still clinging to older gear like the Nvidia Shield TV, this might sting a bit more.
Google’s at least giving everyone a heads-up. They shot out emails to lay out what’s going on and reassure everyone that this is just their way of ditching the legacy experience. (Kudos: Android Police). Let me know in the comments if this shift in branding appeals to you or annoys you.
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