The Universal search and Single Sign-On are the two biggest improvements that Apple has made in Apple TV the service has always promised it would be. Apple TV now includes the latest AMC and the Hallmark channels in TVs of the fourth generation in the United States. These functions help to search for popular TV shows such as The Walking Dead and Better Call Saul in addition to holiday-themed programming such as Countdown to Christmas.
These universal search channels are now available for a wider range of apps in some countries like the U.S, Australia, Canada, and the U.K but also it is limited for iTunes and Netflix in France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Norway, and The Netherland. And also in some other countries and regions, only movies on iTunes channels are supported.
The following third-party content providers are currently supported by the tvOS universal search feature on the fourth-generation Apple TV:
- United States: Movies and TV shows in iTunes, A&E, ABC, AMC, Bravo, CBS, Comedy Central, Cooking Channel, CW Seed, Disney Channel, Disney Jr, Disney XD, DIY, E!, Food Network, FOXNOW, FXNOW, FYI, Hallmark Channel, HBO GO, HBO NOW, HGTV, History, Hulu, Lifetime, MTV, MUBI, Nat Geo TV, NBC, Netflix, PBS, PBS Kids, SHOWTIME, SHOWTIME Anytime, Starz, Syfy, Telemundo, The CW, Travel Channel, USA and VH1.
- Australia: Movies and TV Shows in iTunes, ABC iView, Hoopster, MUBI, Netflix, Plus7 and Stan.
- Canada and United Kingdom: Movies and TV shows in iTunes, Hopster, MUBI and Netflix
- France and Germany:Movies and TV shows in iTunes, Netflix
- Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden: Movies in iTunes, Netflix
- Other countries: Movies in iTunes
Here is the growing list of video apps supporting tvOS’s search functions, which insist the owner of the fourth-generation Apple TV in the U.S use Siri voice search to find the TV shows and movies.
The current list of tvOS’ universal search providers is on Apple’s website.
