TV - digital or analog or...who cares!

I just have to rant about all of the press about the switch from analog to digital TV. Politicians and the industry come at it from the angle that we NEED TV - that people who only have analog and won't be able to receive the digital signal are in dire straits. Here's a thought: what if we hadn't created a society that relies on TV? TV is NOT a necessity. Food is a necessity. Shelter, health care, education, medicine...those are necessities. My family hasn't had a TV for 6 years and seem to keep up with the news and (gasp) find perfectly suitable ways to entertain ourselves (my husband would pipe up here and point out that this is all well and good until you talk about live sporting events, but this isn't his blog, is it? :-) What if we spent taxpayer money on new models of communicating with the poor, those in rural communities, or the disadvantaged? Just a thought.