So long as there’s a jingle in your head, television isn’t free.

The line suggests that “free” television is paid for not with money but with attention and mental real estate. A “jingle in your head” evokes advertising’s most successful outcome: a catchy, involuntary repetition that lingers after the program ends. If the viewer carries the ad’s tune or slogan around, the broadcaster and advertiser have effectively extracted value—brand recall, future purchasing influence, and cultural presence. The quote also implies a critique of commodified entertainment: even when there is no subscription fee, the medium can still impose a cost by colonizing memory and shaping desire. In that sense, the true price is psychological rather than financial.