The government has to pay for people to watch tv?

ok, so $1.5 billion is not that much but still. Why does the government have to pay to let people keep watching tv? Maybe there would be more book reading or game playing or even talking in poor homes if we just didn't worry about it.

Also, I bet there will be plenty of others to fill this space. Big companies that need people to watch tv. Maybe the big 3 could give away the boxes but have them programmed to always turn on to their station.

Ginny