Sometimes an old idea + new tech becomes, in essence, a new idea. Not trying to diminish that. In practice, this could be one such, though I haven't seen it manifest here yet in a substantive way.
Wrt public television advertising: do they still? I remember, as a kid, there would be those in-show reads sometimes (e.g., the Lawrence Welk show would have LW actually talk about some product in the middle of it, which now seems so surreal to reflect on) but I remember that falling away. Although I guess there were sponsorships ("This show is brought to you by xxx") which are ads after a fashion.
No free lunch, either way.