riflebrass:

theinformationcollector:

TIL that when cable was introduced it was advertised as having no commercials due to being a paying service.

via reddit.com

>TV comes in on antenna
>Has commercials
>Cable offers TV without commercials
>Cable starts airing commercials
>Cable charges extra for bonus channels like HBO
>Cable starts breaking up channels into a dozen extra packages with about half a dozen garbage channels for every one channel you DO want to try and convince you to buy multiple packages
>People say fuck it and start pirating shit
>Streaming comes out
>Offers free TV with ads or no ads with a paid subscription
>Subscriptions become required
>Ads are shown anyway despite it being a paid service
>Dozens of streaming services all have exclusive content requiring multiple subscriptions
>People say fuck it and start pirating shit again

We really came full circle on this one.