The appeal back then was being able to get all the shows you wanted on a single platform. Netflix had all of Disney, WB, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc. at one point, including strong original content. Going all in on $10/month for all the TV I wanted to watch was a good deal. Paying $15/month times 5 for a worse experience... not so much.
I don't remember any cable tv packages that were $10/month except for maybe getting the local tv channels because you couldn't get good reception with an antennae.
Cable TV packages were $20-$30/month (base packages) for 200 channels, of which 10 of them you really cared about, then you had to add on another $10-$40 depending on what it was to get what you wanted. So, to finally get the 10-15 channels you actually care about you had to pay $50-$75/month for 900 channels.
Like, if all you wanted was Disney, you couldn't just get Disney channel(s), you had to pay for 250+ other channels too. Now you can just sign up for Disney+ streaming.
