I distinctly recall the ad-free experience of my cousin's cable service circa 1980, in stark contrast with the broadcast reception my family had. I can't defin

I distinctly recall the ad-free experience of my cousin's cable service circa 1980, in stark contrast with the broadcast reception my family had. I can't definitively say that there were no commercials on the channels we didn't bother with, but in essence it was certainly a commercial-free viewing experience. This was in the Denver area. By the early 90s things like home shopping network channels and infomercials were increasingly common, and we eventually ended up with common disruptive commercials. Perhaps your "myth" sources are too young to have actually experienced the early days of cable.