Go woke, go broke.
Discussion
I think more so it's just not a compelling product offering. Any of the other major steaming providers have better regular content and offer occasional extras like NFL games. I think Apple expected all of the Apple fanboys to subscribe just because they usually buy Apple stuff but that hasn't been the case.
I’ve owned AppleTVs since launch. Apple has poured billions into producing content, most of which—certainly over the past 5 years—is woke garbage. To your point, instead, they could have licensed or made what people actually want to watch.