C-Span Network

C-SPAN is the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network. It was launched March 19, 1979, by the cable industry as a nonprofit network devoted to televising sessions of the U.S. House of Representatives. It has since expanded to air nonstop coverage of government proceedings and public affairs programming. CEO and chairman of C-SPAN, Brian Lamb, came up with the idea for C-SPAN while working at a cable industry trade magazine. C-SPAN has won many journalism awards, including the 1993 Peabody award for overall excellence by an institution.

Contrary to public belief, C-SPAN does not receive funding from the government; its operating revenues are paid by license fees collected from the cable systems that offer the network to their customers. Its board of directors is comprised of executives from television operating companies. Adhering to its policy on neutrality, C-SPAN does not sell advertisements or sponsorships. By airing unfettered video coverage of speeches and legislative proceedings, C-SPAN gives those in office, and other figures of public interest, a channel through which they can reach the public without the filters of traditional media outlets.

Eighty-six million households in the United States have access to C-SPAN networks. The network has grown significantly since it started, launching C-SPAN2 and C-SPAN3 to expand its coverage of government. C-SPAN2 covers Senate proceedings, and C-SPAN3 covers live political events and airs archived historical programming. In addition to its coverage of the U.S. government, the network also occasionally airs proceedings from the British Parliament, Canadian Parliament, and other governments whose proceedings might be of some importance to viewers.

C-SPAN has emphatically stated their video is not for use in the public domain but has allowed its use in classrooms and engages in a vigorous educational out-reach program. Major television networks routinely use clips from C-SPAN, but it has filed claims against Internet users who post segments of C-SPAN broadcasts on Web pages.

Though viewing levels comparable to entertainment cable networks will never be reached, the network does reach an average of 22 million viewers weekly. C-SPAN [Page 148]has covered both Democratic and Republican nominating conventions since its conception. The Clinton impeachment trials, Clarence Thomas's Supreme Court nomination hearings, and the 2000 election recount were all covered in entirety by the network.

C-SPAN has tried to gain access to Supreme Court Hearings, but so far their cameras have been denied access. However, the court did allow them to audio record their reading of the decision on Bush v. Gore in December 2000. The network has covered, with audio only, other seminal cases and often airs live coverage of speaking events that the justices engage in.

Even though the network was not initially successful, in terms of viewers, it built up a cult following of political junkies, members of the news media, and legislators themselves. Avid watchers of C-SPAN call themselves SPANners or SPANheads.