It would be nice if either Dish or A&E would just simply say one way or the other. I've had no need for the Apple device but it's the same price as Roku 3 or AFTV so, not a huge deal.
On a side note, I've been checking the approved list daily while waiting on this to resolve. For several days last week, Dish also showed up approved for AFTV. I checked and while Amazon does offer some A&E group content, they have never actually had the channels - only a few cherry-picked shows & mostly for a charge even with Prime. After several days, AFTV is nowhere to be found, only Roku, X-Box 360 & Apple TV. Strange stuff.