Apple TV purchases hardly work after download in airplane mode

So I was planning for a long flight and downloaded quite a few purchased movies onto my iPhone. It was a struggle to get them open to say the least.

Later I read a discussion to open the app to get an internet connection initially, then place device in airplane mode.

I tried this on the flight back and it was still the same story. Especially if I locked the screen for a break and tried to go back to the movie.

I did get everything to work but it takes a long time of my phone or app thinking or acting like it’s loading and it is most inconvenient.

It makes me upset that Apple moved from having actual files to download and watch anytime, to everything going through the Apple TV app and consumers having to struggle and jump through hoops. All in the name of them making more money and forcing consumers to use their app. Why even have digital downloads? Clearly we don’t own the movie anymore. We just pay to be able to view it on Apples platform. Now if for whatever reason the copyrights are in the air we are unable to view the movie even though we paid for it. Essentially we lease the ability to view it as long as it’s available or the company is in business and even then it’s a struggle. It’s not as easy as downloading the movie in advance, once you don’t have service just open and watch. It’s BS.