I think maybe an analogy is in order to explain why I reacted so strongly
to this "we have cable and satellite, so we don't need broadcast TV" idea.

Do you listen to the radio in your van?  Well, there's satellite radio
now.  So clearly we should auction off the current AM and FM bands to
fatten the federal budget and benefit some corporation, and all those who
want to get radio in their cars can pay $30 per month to one of the
satellite radio companies.  What's that?  You can't get local news or
traffic information anymore?  Well, that's too bad; we can't let silly
things like access for the poor or local broadcasting get in the way of
the ability of people with lots of money to buy new and exciting gadgets
for themselves, can we?

             _ _
  __ _ _   _| | |  | David M. Brodbeck (N8SRE)              Ypsilanti, MI
 / _` | | | | | |  +-----------------------------------------------------
| (_| | |_| | | | @ cyberspace.org
 \__, |\__,_|_|_| "To the optimist, the glass is half full.  To the
 |___/             pessimist, the glass is half empty.  To the engineer,
                   the glass is twice as big as it needs to be."