When we were young, television had an agenda. It was about popular education, culture for the masses, and so on. There are vestiges of this in various state-run broadcasting systems, but the whole approach has, sadly, rather gone out of fashion :

Zwackus proposes a government-run yet amoral funding system :

European Tribune - Media Reform Ideas

 Fees could be levied on a per/viewing basis, monthly basis, or whatever, and then allocated directly or proportionally to the various entertainments actually watched.

i.e. fund what the people want to watch. Avant-garde theatre, all-in wrestling, reality tv, educational docos, it's all good, let the public decide.

I don't think this is a legitimate government role. Private enterprise does this well enough currently through advertising revenue. The Zwackus model would get us roughly the same content, minus the advertising. This seems to me to miss the opportunity represented by taking out the ads : you can improve the quality of the content as you are no longer subject to the tyranny of ratings.

This relies, of course, on a preachy moralistic world view which Zwackus will undoubtedly jump on heavily...

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}