It was not cable, but I distinctly remember the worst part of watching movies on TV as a kid with my dad. All the channels would cram a commercial break right before the last 10/15 minutes of a movie, prompting my dad to declare it was too late for us to be up and turning the TV off for the night.

I don't blame my dad, he was probably tired and just wanted to get some sleep, but I do blame the greedy TV channels for sure!