I'm 55, close to your father's age. You say he will be using this device primarily for home based media consumption & you haven't told us how tech savvy he is or if he likes to tinker.
My recommdation? Spend the money & get him an iPad 3.
1. The retina screen = crisp, sharp text quality that is kinder to older eyes. Not having eye strain after a long viewing session is a HUGE consideration.
2. The 9.7 inch screen size is great. I've had 7 inch devices & grew tired of them because while they are bigger than a phone they are just a tad too small to do any serious work on.
3. Voice dictation - For sending short emails & making replies in online forums, the voice dictation feature that's built right into the keyboard is really useful,
4. The App store - with over 200,000 free & paid apps there literally is an app for just about everything. Many of my favorite apps such as the PBS viewer were free.
5.Apple provides pretty amazing customer service, your Dad can sign up for free workshops at an Apple store near him to learn how to get the most from his device. You can also buy an AppleCare + policy, that will let dad replace his iPad x2 for $49 should he drop it or spill something on it. Knowing that he can easily & cheaply replace the device if he has an accident means he'll most likely take the device out with him more & get more use out of it.
I have and enjoy android devices but I love to tinker, side loading apps, rooting, installing custom roms is enjoyable to me. Trust me though when I tell you that providing tech support for a family member or friend to help them with these tasks quickly becomes a nightmare. Most " normal" people fall into two camps, the 1st group will not even attempt to educate themselves no matter how many links & resources you point them to. They will basically expect you to spoon feed them over the lifetime of their device. The 2nd group of folks will look at the resources you provide & read just enough to become dangerous. You'll be fielding phone calls at inconvient times to fix rom flashes that went bad or similar.
Think carefully about what kind of user your Dad is, buy him the device that fits his needs, he'll be really happy & you won't be spending your time serving as unpaid tech support.