The earliest “pay TV” included a physical box on top of the set where you could insert coins to pay for the time you wanted to watch TV. Read about it in Popular Electronics type magazines in the 1950s.
But when the real cable tv came in, some purists said “Since we are already paying without even watching anything yet, there should be no reason for commercials now. We paid and the cable companies should take care of their income accordingly.” Didn’t work. We pay whether watching or the set is off and loads and loads of ads are on network tv.
Now the new era of no free tv, no regular cable (cut the cord), pay for everything, and also no free radio soon. Already lost owning your own music on CD or movies and shows on DVDs.
Used to see those pay boxes on tv sets in motels. Typically black and white, with fuzzy reception. But hey it was TV!
It’s worse than that. We pay the cable companies, and the networks pay them too. Then you have to watch paid commercials. Then you have to pay for internet, and streaming on top of that if you want to.
The cable oligopoly needs to be broken up the way Ma Bell was broken up. I cut the cord last year, and do save some money but have to be vigilant about cancelling streaming services. I have decided to wait for show seasons to be complete before subscribing and then watching them all inside a month - then cancel. I just canceled Hulu and Paramount+ Maybe I’ll get Peacock not for this game, but to binge Yellowstone.