As Amazon becomes the latest platform to push an ad-supported tier, TV writers greet this retro model with frustration and, in some cases, disdain: “I thought 'Nine Perfect Strangers' with commercials was horrible,” says David E. Kelley of his Hulu show with breaks.
A cheaper solution (if you’re already running a server) would be TVheadend and a cheap USB-dongle for DVB-T, DVB-C or DVB-S.