TV is now an essential human right?

I found this today and couldn’t believe what I was reading. This goes along with the current administration in Washington postponing the switch to all digital programming that was suppose to happen this month. They claim there are too many American’s that aren’t prepared for the switch and that they need to get more vouchers for free converter boxes.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – A Brazilian judge awarded $2,600 in damages to a man who sued a store for not replacing his faulty television set, ruling that it was an "essential good" needed to watch soccer and a popular reality TV show. The customer took Casas Bahia, Brazil's largest furniture and home appliances retail chain, to court for "moral damages" inflicted by not being able to watch television.

"In modern life, you cannot deny that a television set, present in almost all homes, is considered an essential good," ruled the judge from Campos, a town north of Rio de Janeiro. "Without it, how can the owner watch the beautiful women on 'Big Brother,' the national news broadcast or a football game," the judge quipped.

Are you kidding me? When did watching TV become a basic right and not a privilege?