Concur. This idea that people are forced to subsidize MTV, LOGO, MSNBC, CNN, and other channels is an anathema to many. In my opinion, the cord-cutting movement really started as Conservatives worked to eliminate subsidizing these wastoids. When Millenials and Xers lost most of their income to Obama, this increased the demand for alternative devices.
This all started with the VCR and time shifting, then as programing continued to get ugly, and commercials became ever intrusive, people began to exploit time shifting into something much more, namely extreme selectivity and avoidance.
That's a good point, but there's something else that may have played a bigger role.
The development of cable and satellite TV added literally hundreds of new channels to the 5-6 that had been available in most areas on terrestrial TV. This proliferation of new options spread TV audiences so thin that very view channels could generate enough viewers to justify spending money on quality content. The decline in quality started the downward spiral of the industry.