You only pay the licence fee if you have a TV set. Cable and over-the-air, a you put it. From whenever TVs became widespread (late 50s?), *everyone* had an aerial on their roof to pick up a TV signal. Some still do, but in the UK, as I'm sure, in the US, many people get their TV via the internet these days.
Also, David, when you say. ;free'.... 'Free' TV will have ads. So that's a big downside right there. Interestingly, the laws about permitted frequency of ads are different here, so when we watch network US shows, often, not only are there the scheduled ad breaks, but you can see where there were additional ad breaks in the US that we didn't stop for in the UK! Which makes me think that it would be intolerable to watch the most popular shows with ads literally every five minutes.