My daughter has a DS, and it is shocking how much it's caused her to WANT to read.
She has
Animal Crossing on it, and seeing as many of the instructions are on screen as text, she want to be able to do it on her own.
That said, we've started rationing TV here - she is only allowed to watch shows that she can name up front, and looks things up in the TV guide to see what she might like to watch.
She knows that there is not unlimited TV.
We have no TV before school (unless we watch the 5 minute news headlines on the BBC to catch the local traffic news just before we go out the door). We have little TV in the evening - none until homework's done, and we've played a familiy game (she's 6 and just learning Monopoly at the moment).
She watches a few shows at the weekends, but mainly wants to watch "family shows" - things we can all wathc together and talk about. She loves documentaries on Discovery, as it allows her to ask quesitons and try to find a subject I don't know about.
All in all, TV is a visitr to our house, not the landlord.
Now if only I could get my ex-wife to do the same in her house...