I don’t think it’s that important to defend. In fact, I would say deregulating it to stop anyone having a monopoly on the airwaves at all would help more than protecting them.

Keep an emergency channel requirement only and get rid of the rest. It’s all become junk advertising.

The UK seems to have transitioned to digital TV pretty well, largely thanks to the BBC having no ads. There are a range of specialty channels that aren’t advertising heavy like America or australia. However, it’s enshittifying to slop over time.