I grew up in the 70's and had cable TV as soon as long as I could remember and it was the exact same broadcasts people that lived in DC or Baltimore got, we just got them from cable since the mountains we lived in prevented any OTA from getting through. And I am pretty sure I wasn't alone with my cable TV.

In 1968, 6.4% of Americans had cable television. The number increased to 7.5% in 1978. By 1988, 52.8% of all households were using cable. The number further increased to 62.4% in 1994. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_television)

I think one could argue they invented cable TV so that more people could see ads, not to stop showing ads.

What? Not everyone lives in or near a metro area. Some people live in valleys or mountains where an OTA signal doesn’t reach. I should know that is where I grew up.

Plus if you read up on the history of cable TV you will find that it was invented for just those reasons.

“At the outset, cable systems only served smaller communities without television stations of their own, and which could not easily receive signals from stations in cities because of distance or hilly terrain”

It isn’t that hard to read up on it and understand the history. Instead I guess just downvote because you don’t like the answer.