Apple TV outage: New series ‘Pluribus’ from Breaking Bad producer may have caused platform to go down for the first time ever

Apple TV finally has its first down moment. That's right, the OTT platform suffered a major outage for users across the US and Canada shortly after the premiere of its new original series Pluribus. The issue, which also affected Apple Music and Apple Arcade, began around 10:30 p.m. ET on November 6, leaving many subscribers unable to access content for several hours.

Widespread disruption reported
According to outage tracker Downdetector, reports surged to nearly 13,000 within hours of the problem surfacing. Around 64% of users cited server connection errors, 34% experienced app-related issues, and 2% faced download failures. The disruption hit several key regions, including Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis.
Apple acknowledged the issue on its official system status page and confirmed it was investigating the outage affecting multiple services. Some users reported partial restoration, though intermittent issues persisted into the early morning hours.

‘Pluribus’ release on Apple TV may be the culprit
The downtime coincided with the launch of Pluribus, a new Apple TV+ series produced by the creator of Breaking Bad. The show’s first two episodes debuted on November 6, drawing heavy viewership and potentially overwhelming Apple’s streaming infrastructure. The company had promoted Pluribus as one of its key titles in an increasingly competitive streaming market, alongside Netflix and Hulu.
The timing of the outage — minutes after the show’s release — led to speculation that the surge in concurrent streams triggered the disruption, though Apple has not confirmed any link between the two.

Impact on Apple’s services division
The incident comes as Apple continues to push its subscription services business, which recorded $28.8 billion in revenue in the September quarter. The company is banking heavily on platforms like Apple TV+, Apple Music, and Apple Arcade to drive growth as hardware sales stabilize.
While normal operations resumed after several hours, users expressed frustration on social media, sharing screenshots of the “Problem loading this content” error. Apple is yet to release an official explanation for the outage or disclose preventive measures for future occurrences.