[scarface74]

Where does the myth that cable TV was ad free come from? Cable TV was never as free. Cable was first introduced to bring broadcast TV - with ads to places that couldn’t get reception.

Then the “Superstations” like TBS and WGN came to cable. They were local broadcast channels that used satellites to broadcast nationwide to cable companies.

Then came cable TV channels like CNN, ESPN, MTV etc with ads.

Cable TV has always had ads.

[falcolas]

For something that's supposedly a myth, the expectation was spread broadly enough that the NY Times wrote an article about it.

https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/26/arts/will-cable-tv-be-inv...

Also, there were some Cable TV channels, sometimes bundled with other channels, that explicitly did not have ads (HBO, to name one), just to complicate things further.

[scarface74]

I’ve seen that article before.

Cable never marketed itself as being ad free

> Although cable television was never conceived of as television without commercial interruption…

HBO has always been a premium add on to basic cable. Just like it is today and it still doesn’t have ads.

> But scores of big companies, including General Foods, American Express, Procter & Gamble and Pepsico, are already cable advertisers, along with innumerable used-car dealers and other local businesses that can afford cable's relatively low rates.

> Many cable channels have yet to begin operating, and those now running commercials, such as Ted Turner's 24-hour Cable News Network or U.S.A. Network's ''You'' program for women, carry 30-second and one-minute commercials that are a standard feature of regular television.

[brewdad]

In my area, cable absolutely marketed itself as being as-free. Perhaps by the time it reached your area the ad-free dream was already dead.

[scarface74]

How could they? The big draw of cable TV was rebroadcasting network OTA channels that had commercials. They then added superstations.

If you look at the earliest basic cable channels, they also had commercials from day one.