Wasn’t the point of paying for TV access so you wouldn’t be forced to endure commercials?
You're paying for the delivery, not the content. Well, if it is a cable channel, then you are also paying partly for the content, as the cable or dish provider must pay the channel owner a certain amount per subscriber. But for broadcast network channels, you're only paying for the delivery. Eyeballs viewing the commercials pays for the content.
Without ads, you'd pay much, much more. Look at the premium you must pay for HBO or Cinemax vs. ESPN.
Remove commercials and you'll pay a lot more for satellite and cable.