This is a recurring procedure for me now, since about a year, so I may as well share the solution.
Update: The solution below was written for MacOS 10.14 and earlier. In 10.15, the solution seems simply to be to stay very calm. Even when "TV" shows that it has all the bytes, something is still going on in the background. Just do something else for some while. After another hour or so, depending on your connection, the movie will be downloaded.
Problem
Sometimes Media downloads (especially Movies and TV Programmes) in iTunes on MacOS lock up. The Media will not download completely. It superficially looks like it is downloaded, but when you click on it, it stays at 0:00 and will not budge.
Solution
I have found no both reliable and acceptable solution, so let's have a look at the unacceptable solutions.
If the downloads are ongoing with no progress, one can pause the failed downloads and quit iTunes. Then visualise the movies in the Store, and try to download them from there.
One can try to remove temp downloads in ~/Music/iTunes/Downloads . This never helped for me, but it looks like something that could help.
If that doesn’t work, the following should work, in spite of some data loss.
iTunes will recognise files that were downloaded from iCloud and iTunes Store. iTunes will recognise media files that were added from other sources and consolidated into ~/Music/iTunes.
iTunes will not restore Playlists. I assume there is more information that is lost, like playcounts and probably other info.
But you will be able to download and finally watch that movie.
Update
Funny observation. If you have a television series with 30 episodes and you have downloaded 15 of them, and you select one (1!) of them and choose "remove download" from the pop-up menu, then all 15 downloads will be removed, and you have to download them again.
Update: The solution below was written for MacOS 10.14 and earlier. In 10.15, the solution seems simply to be to stay very calm. Even when "TV" shows that it has all the bytes, something is still going on in the background. Just do something else for some while. After another hour or so, depending on your connection, the movie will be downloaded.
Problem
Sometimes Media downloads (especially Movies and TV Programmes) in iTunes on MacOS lock up. The Media will not download completely. It superficially looks like it is downloaded, but when you click on it, it stays at 0:00 and will not budge.
Solution
I have found no both reliable and acceptable solution, so let's have a look at the unacceptable solutions.
If the downloads are ongoing with no progress, one can pause the failed downloads and quit iTunes. Then visualise the movies in the Store, and try to download them from there.
If that doesn’t work, the following should work, in spite of some data loss.
- Close iTunes.
- In ~/Music/iTunes delete the file iTunes Library.itl.
- Open iTunes. It will now be void of any media.
- Go to File > Add to Library... and select ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media (or other location, if you store your media elsewhere).
- Click on "Open." This will make iTunes go through the media and add it to a new iTunes Libary.itl file.
iTunes will recognise files that were downloaded from iCloud and iTunes Store. iTunes will recognise media files that were added from other sources and consolidated into ~/Music/iTunes.
iTunes will not restore Playlists. I assume there is more information that is lost, like playcounts and probably other info.
But you will be able to download and finally watch that movie.
Update
Funny observation. If you have a television series with 30 episodes and you have downloaded 15 of them, and you select one (1!) of them and choose "remove download" from the pop-up menu, then all 15 downloads will be removed, and you have to download them again.
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