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Sounds like you’re talking about Apple TV+ stream and not the Apple TV box.
Apple TV+ is pretty much only the exclusives they make for the service, they release a few at the movie theaters so they can be eligible for some awards, but other than that you’re only option to watch them is Apple TV+.
The neat thing about the service is… If you don’t want to watch the shows and movies on it, you don’t have to subscribe!
If you pay for the service, there is nothing on it for you to rent, it comes with the service. You’re just confused and for some reason think everything available to rent on the Apple Store should be available for free within AppleTV+. Obviously that would not be the case. Disney+ has Disney content. AppleTV+ has Apple content. Disney does not offer a store to buy movies and shows, Apple does. The sub is called AppleTV, not AppleTV+, so yes, it’s a sub for the set top box. “A community for discussion about the Apple TV family of devices.” It’s obviously not a scam, that doesn’t even make sense.
Honestly, at this point, I’ve seen enough of these posts and heard first hand (especially from older folks I know) the confusion between AppleTV (the box) and AppleTV+ (the service, and what it actually even is) that this is squarely apple’s fault. It’s a branding issue. Apple needs to consider rebranding one or both of these products and better explain to the layman that AppleTV+ is just a section of the AppleTV app and not the whole app.
It’s a common mistake to equate the iTunes Store, with its millions of titles available to buy/rent with Apple TV+, which is the streaming service. They both will appear in your Apple TV device, but are completely unrelated.
iTunes Store does not equal Apple TV+.