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We're not sure what you call "private" TV and radio. Those media are inherently

intended for wide distribution, since it's pretty difficult to limit the recipients of a

radio signal to a select group.

Most radio and TV "stations" operate for the purpose of profit. The product they sell

consists of your eyes and ears. Their customers are the businesses that buy time on

the broadcast signal, in increments of 10 or 15 seconds, which they use to pitch their

product to you. The purpose of the programing on each commercial station is to

enhance its appeal to you, increase the chance that you'll choose that station, and

thus increase the number of eyes and ears for sale to its business customers. The

station needs no subsidy. The eyes and ears it sells generate serious income,

that pays for its operation plus profit for its owners. If profit drops off for any

length of time, the programing changes to get the eyes and ears back, and

the station might be sold to others.

"Public" radio and TV are not operated primarily for profit, and are not supported

mainly by the sale of commercial time. They're supported by a combination of

listener/viewer donations, contributions from charitable and philanthropic foundations,

and a small amount from the National Endowment for the Arts. For roughly the

past 25 years, since the federal government's share dwindled to the point where

that combination of resources became insufficient to keep things going, public TV

stations one after another began to accept brief commercial plugs to run at the

beginning and end of their programs, for the additional revenue that they could

bring. It was a difficult decision, because station managers were well aware

that the appearance of commercial announcements would make it that much

harder to make the case for their continuing need for viewer support.

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14y ago

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