[Armscor38]

“You don’t need cable or satellite to get ABC, CBS or NBC. They are totally free.”

About 14% of US tv households watch “free” broadcast network television over the air. Which means 86% have cable, satellite or streaming services. There is no way ABC news, CBS news or NBC news could have the ratings they do if all the viewers they had got the programs strictly over the air for free.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/15/nielsen-16m-u-s-homes-now-get-tv-over-the-air-a-48-increase-over-past-8-years/

[SmokingJoe]

None of that means they are paying for the free broadcasts.
If they don't pay their cable fees and they get canceled, they can still watch NBC CBS and ABC for free.