I don't know that one NEEDS to watch any TV. Then again you don't NEED to be on the internet or hacker news. People also do things they want, not just what they need.
Now participating in society isn't as immediately necessary as air, water, or food, but just staying physically alive isn't really enough for people. They seek meaning in their lives and emotional connections to others, by participating in human society. The Network enables that.
A programme to deliver Network access to everybody who wants it and hasn't gone out of their way to live somewhere crazy makes at least as much sense for a rich industrialised nation as a programme to build sewers, or to demand safe housing for its people.
Fortunately if you want television the Network delivers that too.