how do I transfer a downloaded movie or TV show from my iPad to my Mac using Catalina?

Final answer from Apple: "I received response from our Engineering team and they have verified that “transfer purchases” is no longer an option in Catalina. They suggested to leave us feedback on Apple.com/feedback".

So, if people want Apple to add this option back in some form or another then we need to have a sufficient number of people asking for it. I've left feedback, but this is probably a case of the more the merrier...

In my case, until Apple fixes this I will be buying a lot fewer items from iTunes. When I could download for free out of home on an iPad or iPhone and then copy back to my iMac, the iTunes Store was often a reasonable option. But download charges from my ISP once I go over my limit are $5 GB. With this added cost, my purchases are anywhere from double to five - six times the price I would pay Apple, which makes the TV purchases too expensive compared with other ways of accessing the material. When a $10 movie turns into a $35 movie, there are other and cheaper options available.

Hi ResortCasual,

Thanks for the quick reply!

Yes the movie appears in Library under devices - > iPad (same Apple ID, btw), but it does not copy over to my Mac, and there appears to be no way to copy / drag / play it from that location. All I can do is see that it exists.

Ideally I would like to be able to copy the movie to my Mac and then delete it from the iPad. In effect I was using the iPad as a bridge between a location where I have good access to download capability and my home where my download capability is substantially more limited (and my Mac is significantly less portable). This worked well prior to iTunes disappearing, as I could use iTunes to transfer the movie from the iPad to my Mac.

Hi All,

I have a support case open with Apple, with no resolution for over a week now. If I get an answer I'll post it here. Short of that, my recommendation would be for others to also open support cases with Apple, to show them that this is a serious issue rather than a fringe problem amongst only a few customers who have noticed it.

Awesome! Thanks Ben for posting this. I just tried it and it worked well.

I wonder why Apple's engineering team did not know about this, or maybe they added it when upgrading to 10.15.1? Regardless, this solved the issue.