It isn't even just renting. You can't get movies before they are spoiled unless you pay a fortune to see them in an inconvenient location filled with ads, and criminal markup on popcorn.
And it is definitely easier to see movies that have been pirated.
I'm pretty sure "they" in this case are the studios, not Apple, but yeah, this sucks. They want us to spend a lot of money on a movie we're going to watch once, or we have to wait weeks or even months to rent it for much cheaper.
I have an 3rd Gen Apple TV and the thing is as slow as fuck to stream movies. Also, Apple TV doesn't immediately put out movies for rent, as fast as it does for buying.
I just want to rent the fucking movies. Not buy them. There's no more brick and mortar video rental stores in my area.
They just make it more enticing to pirate the movie since it's probably easier. (Not that I actually do.)