Remember that old television in your basement, the one you
bought when “Cheers” was the top sitcom? It might soon be eligible
for federal aid to ensure that it works in the digital era. Within
a few weeks, the Department of Commerce is expected to release
rules for the TV subsidy program mandated by Congress in 2005.
Reversing an earlier proposal, the program reportedly will allow
households that subscribe to cable TV to receive federal support,
at a potential cost to taxpayers of hundreds of millions of
dollars.[1] This would be a mistake. Subsidizing
broadcast reception for anyone makes little sense: There is no
right to television. It makes even less sense to subsidize
reception for cable households, whose access to programming is not
threatened by the switchover to digital broadcasting. For the sake
of taxpayers, the Bush Administration should decline to subsidize
basement…
