At first Cable TV networks had little advertising. It seems to be a natural progression of all mass-media to eventually enshittify. It's not if, it's just when?
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.