People still paid for Cable TV and got ads too. And I'd go crazy if I had multiple in a row Cable TV ads on youtube like it is on TV without the option to upgrade to premium.
100% non-factual. Cable had ads from day one, and the majority of cable-only TV channels had ads from their first day of programming.
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/11/us/advertisers-look-close...
But I do agree, over the years there has been more advertisements per hour of television.