I was really hoping the tech giants would be able to transform live TV as opposed to offer the same experience for (now) the same price.
You’re think of YouTube. The business model of television, especially live television, wasn’t really ever going to cost significantly less than it did. The inverse relationship between advertising and number of outlets would necessitate higher costs to the consumer, not lower costs. Anyone willing to create content at extremely low cost has flourished under the YouTube paradigm.
That idea won't stand up to close scrutiny. Especially the 'Anyone' part. YouTube undoubtedly enriches itself on their efforts. If most 'Anyone's have 'fluorished' at all it's because of their viewers; most of the 'channel' owners that I've watched regularly for years rely on Patreon for support.
I very much doubt that refusing ad-blockers will change any of that.