Beam me up (er... down)

Is there any reason why wireless internet cannot be beamed upon the planet in the same way satellites in outer space beam down cable television?
I'm just asking! I don't totally understand these things. It would be cool if wireless were everywhere. The only bad thing is that would put a lot of ISPs out of business. But some of them are pretty annoying, so hey. Like certain airports (MSP) or coffeeshops (Stbx) or bookstores (B&N). Just give the internet away. Good gracious.

On the other hand, it's a little scary to think you could never escape that which is the world wide web!!!