Government Hands Out 10 Million Free TVs to the Poor in Massive Giveaway Tim Johnson - McClatchyDC
go to original August 10, 2015

Tomasa López and her 11-year-old daughter Susana show off the new digital television set they picked up Aug. 6. Mexico's government hopes to give away 10 million 24-inch sets by the end of the year. (Tim Johnson)

It’s a program costing the Mexican treasury $1.6 billion in a push to convert the nation from analog television signals to a digital format ... and it’s not just the recipients of TVs who benefit.

Television manufacturers clustered along Mexico’s northern border also profit, as do the two powerful media conglomerates that are moving quickly into digital services. The two companies will soon face competition from a third television network mandated into existence in 2013 with a constitutional reform to bring greater competition to the industry.

At the entrance to the delivery tent, a recipient of a television set, José Luis Rodríguez, reproached a government official for suggesting the sets were free.

“Stop using that word. It’s paid for with our taxes. It’s not free,” sputtered Rodríguez, who works for the federal social security institute.

Already, the government has given away 4.6 million televisions in a massive operation that requires fleets of trucks to deliver the sets, and masses of workers to check documents, take fingerprints and scan the bar codes of the sets to ensure that each family gets only one.

Recipients are all low-income Mexicans who take part in one of several government social service programs, including Prospera, which is the national crusade against hunger, and Liconsa, a subsidized milk program.

A sense of urgency pervades the program. The constitutional reform enacted in 2013 gives the government a deadline of Dec. 31 to convert the nation to digital television. In recent weeks, government teams have been handing out 30,000 to 40,000 sets a day, but will have to double that figure to meet the deadline.

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