Five Minutes to Wapner, Five Minutes to Wapner...

TV... in my car?! Life is complete.

(Image courtesy of Chrysler.com)

Thanks to Chrysler, no longer will you have to fret that you might miss your favorite TV show. By the end of the year, for a mere $629 (plus installation costs), you can outfit your new Chrysler with roughly twenty channels of live television, including CBS, MSNBC, and MTV, among others.

At a time when some states are enacting laws prohibiting texting on cell phones while driving, Chrysler has added yet another distraction to the ever-increasing list for today's driver. Of course, the 7" TV included in the FLO TV Auto Entertainment system will not be positioned within view of the driver's seat. Nevertheless, the sound of live TV in the background, coupled with cell phone conversations and crying children, only adds to the many distractions faced by the average driver. And if the background noise is the sound of MSNBC reporting yet another day of dismal performance in the stock market, there is, it seems, little hope of returning the driver's focus to the task at hand, namely, the road ahead.

Leaving aside tangential concerns--why not talk to your children instead of turning on the TV in the backseat?--one hopes Chrysler has not hinged too much on this new innovation. It is, to be sure, a difficult time for Detroit auto makers, and live TV is certainly not the best means by which to bolster brand image.