TV programming was not free back in the day. You stilled paid for it with the gasoline you bought, the laundry detergent you bought, and anything else you bought. The price of the product was higher because the advertising was factored into it.
Who paid for program? The advertisers! Who paid the advertising agencies to create those TV ads? The product manufacturers. How did the manufacturers pay for those ads? By adding it to the cost of the manufacture of the product(s) which you and I paid for.
See?
Plus, you have to pay for electricity to power the darn thing.
There’s still no thing as a free lunch. Never has been, never will be.