Without any warning, Microsoft has apparently decided to quit selling digital movies and TV shows, pulling all previously-available titles from the official Microsoft Store.
The company abruptly cancelled all sales and rentals of films and TV shows on Friday, with the only notice being a short message posted on the Store’s support pages. Windows Central was the first to report the news:
"Important: Microsoft no longer offers new entertainment content for purchase, including movies and TV shows, on Microsoft.com, Microsoft Store on Windows, and the Microsoft Store on Xbox," the company said.
The notice goes on to explain that customers who have previously purchased movies or shows via the Microsoft Movies & TV storefront will still be able to access that content on their Xbox and Windows devices. The company is refusing to provide any refunds to customers, instead pointing them to the small print of the Microsoft Store’s terms and conditions, which clearly states that “movies and TV shows are ineligible for refunds”.
The sudden decision means that Microsoft has shut down a business that spanned almost two decades. It first launched a storefront for digital TV content in 2006 on its old Zune-branded portable devices, which were designed to compete with Apple’s iPod. That portal later evolved to become the Xbox Video Store, which launched in 2012, before being rebranded once again as the Microsoft Movies & TV app in 2015, when it appeared on Windows devices too.
Although the move came without warning, it has probably been on the cards for a while. There has been speculation that Microsoft might stop selling digital film content ever since it killed off its music streaming app Groove Music back in 2017. But we should note that, while the storefront has been closed, the Movies & TV app itself remains, so users who have previously bought content can continue to watch it. But for how long that will be the case, it isn’t clear.
If you happen to live in the U.S., there is an independent service called Movies Anywhere that allows you to sync content purchased from participating vendors, including Microsoft, and also Apple, Amazon Prime Video, Fandango, Google Play/YouTube and Comcast's Xfinity, allowing you to access all of your content in one place. But that option is not available in other countries.
