Purchased videos have buffering issues but ATV+ streaming is just fine

I have an AppleTV 4K which has normally been great.

However, over the past week or so, when we try to watch a tv show that we purchased (in the “Library” of the TV app) it pauses with the spinning wheel for minutes at a time several times per hour as if it’s buffering.

Whenever this happens, the first thing I do is whip out my iPhone and check the WAN and LAN network status via my router dashboard. It’s totally fine. I also perform a speed check always resulting in our normal internet speeds (which are more than ample).

Just to be sure, I updated the AppleTV to the newest OS, but still experienced the issue.

The AppleTV is connected via a cat6 cable through a gigabit Ethernet switch to my router. there has been no buffering issues when watching movies via Family Sharing stored on a Mac in my house.

I therefore conclude that my ISP and my local network are both perfectly fine. The issue is either in the device or Apple’s streaming servers.

The final troubleshooting step I did on the AppleTV immediately after the frustrating buffering experience was to stream two full episodes of Ted Lasso from AppleTV+. (Meaning, not “Purchased” in my “Library”.) That streamed perfectly fine with no buffering issues.

So what’s going on here? Do purchased videos stream from a different (slower, lamer) data center than ATV+?