Apple TV's Universal Search Gains Support for Comedy Central, MTV and VH1

Apple last week added three new apps to the universal search function on the fourth-generation Apple TV, introducing support for Comedy Central, MTV, and VH1, three popular networks.

For those unfamiliar with universal search, it is a feature that lets users conduct Siri voice searches or text-based searches to find TV and movie content across a wide range of apps. At launch, universal search supported only a few apps, but Apple has been adding new apps on a regular basis.

comedy_central_apple_tv_search
With the addition of support for Comedy Central, MTV, and VH1, searching for shows available on those networks will now bring up options to watch content within the respective apps.

Apple maintains a dedicated support document that offers Apple TV owners a full list of content that can be found via Siri through universal search. Apple's universal search feature is largely limited to the United States. In most other countries, universal search only displays iTunes content, while Netflix is also supported in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Popular Stories

iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Coming Next Week With These New Features for Your iPhone

Friday February 14, 2025 6:18 am PST by
The first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner, and the update is expected to include many new features and changes. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman expects the iOS 18.4 beta to be released by next week. Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far. Apple Intelligence for Siri Siri is expected to get several enhancements powered by Apple Intelligence on iOS...
iPhone 17 Roundup Feature 2

iPhone Design to Change 'Significantly' This Year

Monday February 17, 2025 7:09 am PST by
Apple is set to "significantly change" the iPhone's design language later this year, according to a Weibo leaker. In a new post, the user known "Digital Chat Station" said that the iPhone's design is "starting to change significantly" this year. The "iPhone 17 Air" reportedly features a "horizontal, bar-shaped" design on the rear, likely referring to an elongated camera bump. On the other...
apple launch feb 2025 alt

What to Expect From the 'Apple Launch' Next Week

Thursday February 13, 2025 11:48 am PST by
Apple has yet to announce any new devices this year, but that could change starting next week. Apple CEO Tim Cook today said to "get ready" for a "launch" on Wednesday, February 19. "Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," said Cook, in a social media post. The post includes an #AppleLaunch hashtag, along with a short video featuring an animated Apple logo inside of a circle....
Apple Maps 2024

Apple Maps Might Start Showing Ads

Sunday February 16, 2025 7:22 am PST by
Apple is "exploring" the idea of showing search ads in the Apple Maps app, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Back in 2022, Gurman said software engineering was "already underway" to display ads in the Apple Maps app, but Apple did not move forward with the idea at the time. Today, he said Apple is "giving this notion more thought" again. This time around, he said Apple has yet to...
Tim Cook Apple Park

10+ Announcements Apple Could Have Rolled Into a February Event

Saturday February 15, 2025 8:00 am PST by
Apple appears to have enough upcoming product announcements to justify a full event this month, yet all signs indicate these reveals will be handled through a series of press releases instead. There are a multitude of rumors from reliable sources about specific announcements in the coming weeks, so here's everything that Apple could have feasibly included in a hypothetical February event: ...
iPhone 17 Pro Render Front Page Tech

iPhone 17 Pro With All-New Camera Bar Design Allegedly Revealed

Thursday February 13, 2025 5:49 pm PST by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro will feature three rear cameras arranged in a familiar triangular layout, but the cameras will be housed in an all-new rectangular camera bar with rounded corners, according to YouTube channel Front Page Tech. iPhone 17 Pro camera design render created by Asher for Front Page Tech In a video uploaded today, Front Page Tech host Jon Prosser said the camera ...
m2 pro mac mini

Apple is Now Selling a Refurbished Mac Mini for Just $319 (!)

Saturday February 15, 2025 9:58 am PST by
A few days ago, we reported that Apple's refurbished Mac mini pricing had a problem, and it appears that Apple has taken note. Apple was offering a refurbished Mac mini with the M2 chip, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage for $559, which was $50 more than a refurbished Mac mini with the M4 chip, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. All other key specifications were equal. That's no longer...
iPhone SE 4 Thumb 1

Apple's Next iPhone SE Launching on Wednesday - Here's What We Know

Friday February 14, 2025 4:04 pm PST by
Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an Apple announcement that's coming on Wednesday, February 19, and it's looking like that mystery announcement will be the next-generation iPhone SE. We've been hearing about the iPhone SE 4 for quite some time now, and we essentially know everything to expect. If you want a sneak peek at what's coming, read on. Naming Apple first introduced the iPhone SE in...

Top Rated Comments

blizaine Avatar
112 months ago
Yet no universal search support for my own library yet?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KazKam Avatar
112 months ago
Explain how that will work when Siri only searches the web and the device it is on? Siri does not log into devices on your network and search for files.
You keep saying this every time someone asks for Siri on the ATV to search their Home Share, and you're sort of right... but not. As you say, Siri can index and search the "device it's on". The ATV has all the metadata from your Home Shared library cached ON THE ATV, so it CAN search and index your Home Share.

Many of us have hundreds, if not thousands of movies available locally in iTunes. We can't search them with Siri; the interface to browse through them is unwieldy, buggy, and slow; and we don't want results from the iTunes store so that we can buy or stream something we already own. I don't want to try to stream a 5GB movie that's sitting on my HD downstairs, that's asinine.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Gasu E. Avatar
112 months ago

Whenever this subject comes up it mostly has to do with people wanting Apple to support illegally sourced content they have loaded on their iTunes library. YES ripping movies off DVDs you own is still illegal.
.
I think people would be perfectly fine if Siri took their legally purchased DVDs, loaded them into the DVD player, and pushed "Play." But since Apple has not given Siri a robot arm yet, people who rip their DVDs are trying to help poor Siri out a bit. Are you so unfeeling as to criticize people who want to assist this poor disabled application?

I'm a big fan of Siri on ATV. But your critique is absurd.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mainstreetmark Avatar
112 months ago
Yet no universal search support for my own library yet?
Why do you need it! All you have to do is go to your list of movies. Then, begin swiping down over and over and over. Don't worry, though, because if one of the swipes is slightly left or right, you can just start all over.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Glassed Silver Avatar
112 months ago
You want to give Apple access to your local network and all your files?
I want Siri to run offline.
Why the **** does Siri need to connect to the internet just to set a timer for example?

Plenty of times when I sit there waiting for Siri to complete a request that shouldn't take the "power of the cloud" to understand, whatever that **** means, especially after they showed that my local devices are good enough to use AI on photos.
It's also not like Siri has such a VAST set of possibilities that are impossible to store on the 16GB entry models... *cough*

Glassed Silver:mac
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Glassed Silver Avatar
112 months ago
Explain how that will work when Siri only searches the web and the device it is on? Siri does not log into devices on your network and search for files.
There's the problem. Online-only Siri.

Glassed Silver:mac
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)