A Right To Television?

Since when does the constitution protect our right to Hi-Definition television?

From Investors Business Daily:

Posted 11/15/2005

Entitlements: To the ever-growing list of goodies Washington hands out, you can add digital television converter boxes. No, this isn't news from an alternate universe.

The Senate has voted a $3 billion subsidy for Americans whose sets can't handle the eventual — and coerced — transition to digital TV. A slightly more restrained House might pass a bill setting aside a bit less than $1 billion for the same purpose.

Texas Republican Joe Barton, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, defends this "one time" expense. Converter boxes run $40 to $50, he reckons, and low-income households would have a hard time coming up with the dough.

Last time we checked, the Constitution was silent on the right to TV. But that doesn't cut much ice with a Congress that routinely bulls its way through and over the founding document.

The converter-box subsidy wouldn't be necessary if Congress weren't also forcing changes on the TV industry.
The House wants to require broadcasters to convert to all-digital broadcasting by April 7, 2009. The Senate could require the change by Dec. 31, 2008. Once the conversion is complete, the old analog or nondigital TVs that are connected to cable or satellite can no longer receive a picture.

Nothing wrong with the networks broadcasting in digital. But if digital's the way to go, the free market will make that clear soon enough. Washington is exceeding its authority by forcing those networks to broadcast in digital just as it would exceed its authority by subsidizing viewers who need converter boxes.

We suppose a few billion dollars more for set-top boxes will mean little in a federal budget that now tops $2 trillion. But programs like this, plus the entitlement mentality that such giveaways foster, make deficit-reduction that much harder.

They also make us wonder what in the world congressional leaders are thinking when they insist they've cut enough and can cut no more.