Because we don't pay for the content on basic cable channels. The whole premise of the question is wrong. You pay your cable company for providing you with cable service, better reception than you'd get over the air and a whole menu of channel choices that aren't available over the air. You...
Well what do you expect them to do? Ads pay for the programming. If advertisers know their ads won't be seen, they won't buy time on the networks to run them, and the networks won't have the money to produce shows. "Free" TV isn't free (like most "free" things.) It is just that somebody else...