Someone please explain...

Before the days of cable TV, viewers nationwide obviously had to use a conventional antenna, something like rabbit ears. And this worked. They might have to jiggle with it a bit, but they could get decent-to-good reception. Why is it that in this day and age it is virtually impossible to get a TV signal without cable? We can talk on cell phones the size of playing cards and use them to download streaming video, yet we cannot watch The Price is Right without the lines, flicker, and angry hissing of static. I just don't get this. Did this technology regress while everything else progressed? Are the cable companies using some sort of doomsday device to cause this and thus force everyong to subscribe to cable? I am trying to watch the NCAA Tournament right now in the little TV in my office and while the audio is miraculously clear, the picture looks worse than "Double Dribble" on an old, decrepit Nintendo Entertainment System.