Cable isn’t the same as OTA but from a viewer standpoint they’re both live TV. Live TV in the US is basically unwatchable unless you really like sports or 24/7 news commentary (even then live news is usually also available through phone apps) and don’t mind being interrupted by ads every 2 minutes.

Anything else is better watched with torrents/piracy streaming sites. They don’t stop the show to serve some random combination of medicine, home insurance, and car ads.