For $500 million a year (what we give to PBS) we could provide the poor with cable service where they would get a DOZEN children and educational channels.
The fact is, PBS is a bad deal for taxpayers.
40M “poor”. That’s $12.50 each per year. Not quite enough for such service.
...but to run with your idea:
Netflix is $8/month. Figure a bottom-end internet service is $12/mo. Let the recipient get their own one-time-cost “set top box” for under $100. Assume 4 people per home.
$240/yr x 10M = $2.4B
May be 5x what PBS gets, but I’m sure numerous other giveaways would also get resolved with a net savings and improved benefits quality.