And ads are what killed it too, once a competing technology (finally) came out. From what I understand the US shows way to many adds compared to Europe, it's nearly half of the show time. If TV/cable execs weren't so greedy, they might still be alive. It seems like US companies tend to kill the golden goose.
Where does the myth that cable ever was ad free come from? Cable started out as a method to deliver broadcast TV to people who couldn’t get reception. Then superstations like TBS started broadcasting local content. Cable always had ads besides premium TV like HBO