>>consider the enormous monopolistic power that the broadcast and cable industries have seized over broadcast frequencies which are, after all, a public asset
No different from the financial system that is owned by the citizenry who tolerate parasites who almost capsized the system in pursuit of unnatural rewards in exchange for nothing of value. We allow these behaviors because the alternative requires hard decisions, even revolution, and we can't be bothered. Yet.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1