Saturday, February 12, 2011

PBS and Saturday morning cartoons

When I was a kid, Saturday morning was the only time for kids shows. You saw your cartoons then, and maybe on an independent channel if you were lucky.
Now, my kids have three kids channels on basic cable. And if that's not enough, you can add expanded cable and have more kids choices - an all Pre-K channel, west coast feeds - so your kids never have to watch anything else.
Unfortunately for PBS, they've entered the expanded cable part of the market. The niche for those with extra money to spend when we don't have the extra money to spend on everything we want.
When you've got huge expenses, things like TV must be looked at in light of the overall picture. Not just how good you think they are.
The House Republicans are making a start with $100 billion in budget cuts. If PBS and NPR don't use that much of the budget, then it won't take much for some private individual to replace that money.
Just because we live in an age with lots of choices, the government doesn't have to subsidize all of them.

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