I grew up with free over the air television. Between the UHF and VHF bands New York City had a plethora of content available. While it may not have been 24 hour broadcasting and would have proven to be of no use to insomniacs it was entertaining nonetheless. Not everyone was as fortunate as I was and in other parts of the country the availability of content was much smaller-limited to only the three major network affiliates (before Fox there were only three), one public television station (if you were lucky), and maybe one or two locally independent stations. That situation, along with the American need to monetize and profitize everything, technological advances, and deregulation has led to the current cable landscape. Watching the video below while funny, is sadly very true.