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.