I started using IceTV when there were legal issues around the provision of EPG data in the mid to late 2000s. I had been using an XMLTV grabber for my Sage HTTV setup and Channel 9 managed to use legal threats to stop my (free) service provider so I moved to IceTV purely for the data. It was much more reliable (as you'd hope, as a fee-paying service) and added additional features such as the weekly emails etc. The widgets, web guide etc were next to no use to me as Sage wouldn't talk to IceTV as such. I was happy to pay a subscription for many many years, until 2012 when I bought a Humax PVR with lifetime TV guide.
I still have the Humax and now a Skippa, and I'm more than happy to pay a subscription because I'm able to reliably set series recordings, now days use the web guide and iPhone app for recordings and it gives me a consistent interface across different brands of PVRs.
The ease of use, especially with the female members of the household, make it worth it.
I hear the arguments that in this day and age no-one is watching FTA TV, Internet TV is the future et al. I get that - i have both Netflix and Stan accounts, watch between 5-10hrs a week content across both services, but most of my viewing is recorded current Australian content (I'll reluctantly admit that The Biggest Loser is one such show). TBL excepted, there's still a lot of quality content on FTA. Oh and right now, I'm playing back last night's recording of Rage.