The use of the word “gratuitous” in those discussions, Mr. Van Amburg added, was “taken to an extreme and suddenly became something and that makes you realize how little people understand what that word means.”

The executive added that Apple would not get in the way of the show creators they now rely on.

“If we were to start to impose certain things like ‘it has to be this’ or ‘it must only do this,’ we would start to pull at a thread of authenticity and potentially be a place that didn’t celebrate — as deeply and emotionally as we do — creative expression,” Mr. Van Amburg said.

Apple will also stream shows for children, including a new animated version of “Peanuts” and programs made with Sesame Workshop.

Apple products do tend to pop up in the new programs, particularly “The Morning Show,” where the iPhone appears so many times that it becomes almost a character in itself. Mr. Erlicht and Mr. Van Amburg have said there was no edict handed down from Cupertino on how the shows treat the iPhone and other Apple devices, a point confirmed by many of the producers.

“Not one person has ever said to us you need to make sure we represent hardware product in our shows or that these shows are a sales tool for hardware product,” Mr. Erlicht said.

Unlike its rivals, Apple will not have the luxury of being able to lean on an extensive library of programming. But Apple customers can use the Apple TV app to click to an episode of HBO’s “Succession” or selections from Showtime or Hulu, if they are subscribers to those services.

“For us, it was always going to be about originals and our ability to help you discover all that other library product that exists in the world and exists in all these other places in this disaggregated way,” Mr. Van Amburg said.