That's Not Disenfranchisement

This morning the NPR Technology report talked about the conversion to digital television from analog.

Dennis Wharton of the National Association of Broadcasters is quoted as saying that people who cannot receive the new digital broadcasts [presumably because they cannot purchase digital equipment] are "disenfranchised from any access to local television service".

So people in rural areas who are unable to receive analog OTA broadcasts are disenfranchised?

If I have satellite but cannot get local stations, am I disenfranchised?

What if I can't afford a television at all, and not just a digital one?

What about people who simply have no local stations at all?

The ability to receive local broadcasts via TV -- OTA or not -- is neither a right nor a privilege. It's just a commercial transaction.

Talk about hyperbole.