Could you be more pedantic? Yes, all human activity has some cost. When this is in marketing copy, it clearly means consumers are not charged for consumption.

Could you be more pedantic? Yes, all human activity has some cost. When this is in marketing copy, it clearly means consumers are not charged for consumption. If it helps, the US federal budget for 2023 appears to have been projected at $6.35 trillion. Thankfully, all of this stuff is public, so taking a quick look at NASA's slides (https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/fiscal_year_2024_nasa_budget_summary.pdf https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/fiscal_...), I'm going to guess this falls under "STEM Engagement," which probably encompasses more than just this, but totals $157 million. So somewhere around 0.0025 cents out of every tax dollar. It appears I paid about $50k in federal income taxes last year, so I paid about $1.25 toward NASA's entire STEM engagement activity, some portion of which is represented by this streaming service. And there isn't any question about where the funds came from. "Outside sources" can't donate to specific government activities, only to the Treasury's general fund. Donating directly to a specific activity violates Congress' Constitutional power of the purse. If you're wondering "what about PBS?" They're not a government agency. They're a private nonprofit funded partially by grants from the government.