• 1.1. Content that is not produced by Apple Inc. must not use Apple trademarks (such as the Apple logo, “Apple Inc.,” or “Apple TV app”) in the metadata, cover art, or TV assets in a manner that makes the content appear to be Apple-branded.

• 2.1. Use the standard name and spelling for your series.

• 2.2. Make sure your series name matches the name shown in your artwork.

• 2.3. Don’t include tag lines or other extra information that’s not part of the series name.

• 2.4. Don’t include season numbers in your series name.

• 3.1. The name of your series should be identical in both the series name and in your season names. If you need an exception, contact the Apple Business team.

• 3.2. Make sure you use the same season name that’s in the cover art for physical media, like a Blu-Ray boxed set. This is also known as “key art.”

• 4.1. Select the appropriate subtype for your seasons referring to these guidelines:

• 5.1. Use the name of the series, followed by the appropriate word for season or volume and the season or volume number.

• 6.1. Closed captioning must be included for English TV content available in the U.S., and should be included when English TV content is made available in other English speaking countries.

• 6.2. Closed captioning must be in sync with the video asset.

• 6.3. Closed captioning is preferred to be sentence case.

• 6.4. Text found in burned-in full subtitles and forced narrative should not be duplicated in the closed caption file of the same language. Consider placement of text in the closed caption file to avoid overlapping of text.

• 6.5. Closed captioning should be placed on the lower third of the screen to avoid obstructing or overlapping important visual content on the screen. It can be moved while any essential information being conveyed through visuals is at the bottom of the screen.

• 6.6. Closed captioning should include brackets or parentheses to identify a sound or a speaker when there are multiple speakers, or if the speaker is off-screen.

• 7.1. Indicate in the season name if the content is dubbed or subtitled, as well as the language of the audio or subtitles.

• 7.2. In English, add this information in parentheses after the name of the series, but before the word “Season” and the season number.

• 7.3. In French, for content that is Version Française (VF) or Version Originale Sous-Titree (VOST), add this information at the end, after the season name and number.

  Content that’s VOST and VF should have episode titles and descriptions in French, not in English. Don’t include VOST and VF information in episode titles.

• 7.4. In German, for subtitled content add this information at the end, after the season name and number. For dubbed content, use the word “Staffel” and the season number.

• 8.1. Make sure your episode titles are spelled correctly.

• 8.2. Episode titles must match the episode title shown on-screen or the dubbed audio soundtrack.

• 8.3. If an episode doesn't have a title, use the correct word for episode and the episode number, as shown below.

• 8.4. Don’t include the series name or season name in an episode title, except for compilation, box set, and bonus content, as described in the next section.

• 8.5. If you need an exception to these guidelines for any reason, contact your representative on the Apple Business team.

• 9.1. Only include the series name and season names in an episode title if your compilation, box set, or bonus content requires it:

• 10.1. If an episode is split into parts, use “Pt.” for English, “partie” for French, and “Teil” for German. Do not spell out the word “part,” or use any other terms or abbreviations.

  Language	Episode Title Format	Examples
  U.S. English and U.K. English	Episode Title, “Pt.,” Number	Pilot, Pt. 1 There’s No Place Like Home, Pt. 3 Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, Pts. 1 & 2
  French	Episode Title, Number, “partie”	Le réveil, 1ère partie Ceux qui restent, 3ème partie
  German	Episode Title, “Teil,” Number	Gestrandet, Teil 1 Die Rückkehr, Teil 3

  If an episode contains two or more titles, use a slash (/) to separate the titles, with a space before and after the slash:

  Language	Episode Title Format	Example
  All	Episode Title / Episode Title	Little Sheep of Horrors / The Kite

• 11.1. Use the correct title case format for the language of your content. This applies to series names, season names, and episode titles.

• 11.2. Don’t use words in all capital letters in names or titles for your content. The only exceptions are abbreviations or acronyms like FBI, NYPD, and so on.

To learn more about localizing your content, see Appendix A.

• 12.1. Include all accent marks required by a language in their correct position. This applies to series names, season names, episode titles, descriptions, metadata, and other content.

• 12.2. For French names, titles and descriptions, use ligatures, such as: œ, æ. Don’t use “oe” or “ae.”

• 12.3. For German names, titles and descriptions, use all characters commonly used in German orthography, such as: Ä ä, Ö ö, Ü ü, ß. Don’t substitute “ue” or “ss,” and so on.

• 13.1. Follow correct grammar and usage for the content language.

• 13.2. If you mention your series name, season names, or episode titles in your descriptions, format them as described in this guide previously.

• 13.3. Don’t mention broadcast times or network names.

• 13.4. Use a single space between sentences. Avoid double spaces or extra spaces.

• 13.5. Use HTML tags for italics around series names, for example <i>Desperate Housewives</i>.

• 13.6. Use standard quotation marks around episode titles, for instance “Tabula Rasa” or “Showmance.”

• 13.7. Don’t enclose your description with quotation marks or other punctuation marks.

• 13.8. Don’t start or end your description with unnecessary punctuation like asterisks or question marks.

• 13.9. Include all required accent marks for accented characters.

• 13.10. Provide specific descriptions of each episode. Don’t use the episode title, or generic descriptions that apply to the whole series or multiple episodes.

• 13.11. Don’t use superlatives in your description, such as, “This is the best show ever!”

• 13.12. Don’t include the number of episodes in the season description.

• 13.13. Don’t include the length of an episode in either season or episode descriptions.

• 13.14. All ampersands (&), greater-than (>) and less-than symbols (<) must be properly HTML-encoded when used in any XML metadata files. For more details, see the Apple Transactional TV Specification.

• 14.1. Copyright information must include the year of the first release (a 4-digit year) and the name of the copyright holder. Do not include © or ℗ symbols, as these will be added automatically. For example:

  Correct: 2011 21st Century Fox

  Incorrect: © ’11 WB

• 14.2. The copyright holder must be a legitimate and verifiable entity. Do not provide placeholder names like “2011 XYZ321 Inc.”

• 15.1. Don’t include nudity, sexual situations, or graphic violence in your previews.

• 15.2. Don’t include a show’s opening credits.

• 15.3. Don’t include scenes from previous episodes.

• 15.4. Don’t include ending credits.

• 15.5. Don’t start your preview with a black frame.

• 15.6. Don’t include any spoilers in your preview.

• 15.7. Do make sure to include some dialogue in your previews.

• 16.1. The first episode must begin at position one.

• 16.2. Season-related bonus content must begin at position 101, then continue in order at positions 102, 103, and so on.

• 16.3. Episode-related bonus content should be in the container position immediately after the episode it references.

• 17.1. Reality and nonfiction are mutually exclusive genre classifications, and cannot be used together.

• A. English

  • A.1. Use standard title casing for series names, season names, and episode titles. This means the first letter of each word is capitalized.

    However, don’t capitalize the following articles and conjunctions unless they’re the first or last word: a, an, and, for, from, in, of, or, the, to, with.

    You should capitalize the following words: at, is, on. Never use words in all capitals except for abbreviations or acronyms like FBI and so on.

  • A.2. For season names, use the series name followed by “Season” or “Vol.” and the season or volume number.

  • A.3. For episode titles, if there is no title, use “Episode” followed by the episode number.

• B. French

  • B.1. Use sentence casing for series names, season names, and episode titles. This means only the first letter of the first word is capitalized, and the remaining words are in all lower case except for proper nouns which have their first letter capitalized. Never use words in all capitals except for abbreviations or acronyms.

  • B.2. For season names, use the series name followed by “Saison” or “Vol.” and the season or volume number.

  • B.3. For episode titles, if there is no title, use “Episode” followed by the episode number.

  • B.4. For seasons offered on the French or Canadian Apple TV app with French subtitles or audio, all metadata and artwork must be provided in French.

• C. German

  • C.1. Use capitalization and orthography according to the “New German Orthography.” Never use words in all capitals except for abbreviations or acronyms.

  • C.2. For season names, use the series name followed by “Staffel” or “Vol.” and the season or volume number.

  • C.3. For episode titles, if there is no title, use “Folge” followed by the episode number.

  • C.4. For seasons offered on the German Apple TV app with German subtitles, all metadata and artwork should be provided in English. For seasons with German audio, all metadata and artwork should be provided or localized in German.

• D. Spanish

  • D.1. For season names, use the series name followed by “Temporada” and the season number.

  • D.2. If there is no title for episodes, use “Episodio” followed by the episode number.

  • D.3. For seasons offered on the U.S. Apple TV app with Spanish subtitles or audio, all metadata and artwork must be provided in Spanish.