Why do the presidential debates matter in the day of the Internet?

[Mr Khan]

gergroy said:

Mr Khan said:

It's perfectly valid, because PBS is a fine institution, if only for what it provides to children, and costs America little. Not like Oil Subsidies which, small as they may be, do nothing but line the pockets of big oil.

So killing PBS would be like getting rid of a good .txt file.

This may be a silly question, but why does the government need to fund PBS?  Can't the programs on the channel be funded like any other channel, through advertisement revenue?  

That would undermine the point. It's called "Public" for a reason. How would Mr. Rogers have done if he were beholden to the corporate machine?