So replace oligopoly with gerontocracy? Who consumes national television?

Then enforce equal slots per online platform and forbid targeting by demographic cohort.

Fortunately our government can't force private entities to sponsor specific political candidates, due to our constitutional right to freedom of speech.

I'm genuinely curious how this works. What constitutes a platform?

Is TikTok a platform? Reddit? HN?

Why don't you make a proposal for what you think is the best approach?

As in state sponsored television? No one is watching CSPAN to learn anything about candidates.

Yes, that's the problem. American media is a sewer which tends inexorably toward the lowest common denominator, with dismal effects on its polity.

They might if that's the only way to see political debates and such.

Honestly it doesn't work that well. Far-rights channels will push left-wing candidates to graveyard slots, or put them against 3 trained "interviewers", etc.

Maybe it's still better than in the US? It's far from perfect.

In Spain at least, radio and TV time slots for political ads are assigned by the Electoral Commission in a session which can be attended by representatives of each candidacy.