C-SPAN

C-SPAN

Country	United States
Headquarters	Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
Programming
Language(s)	English
Ownership
Owner	National Cable Satellite Corporation (non-profit)

C-SPAN (/ˈsiːspæn/), an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels (C-SPAN, C-SPAN2 and C-SPAN3), one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming media and archives of C-SPAN programs. C-SPAN's television channels are available to over 100 million cable and satellite households within the United States, while WCSP-FM, also called C-SPAN Radio, is broadcast on FM radio in Washington, D.C., and is available throughout the U.S. on XM Satellite Radio, and via internet streaming and an iPhone app.

The network televises U.S. political events, particularly live and gavel to gavel coverage of the U.S. Congress as well as occasional proceedings of the Canadian and British Parliaments and major events worldwide. Its coverage of political and policy events is unedited, thereby providing viewers (or listeners) with unfiltered information about politics and government. Non-political coverage includes: historical programming, programs dedicated to non-fiction books and interview programs with noteworthy individuals connected to public policy. C-SPAN is a non-profit organization, funded by the affiliate fees paid by its cable and satellite affiliates, and does not carry advertisements on any of its networks, radio stations or websites. The network operates independently, and neither the cable industry nor Congress has power over the content of its programming.

History

Development

Brian Lamb, C-SPAN's chairman and CEO, first conceived of C-SPAN in 1975 while working as the Washington, D.C. bureau chief of cable industry trade magazine Cablevision. It was a time of rapid growth in the number of cable TV channels available in the U.S., and Lamb envisioned a cable-industry financed non-profit network for televising sessions of the U.S. Congress and other public affairs event and policy discussions. Early cable executive Bob Rosencrans provided the initial seed funding of $25,000 for Lamb to launch C-SPAN in 1979 and other cable executives followed suit, eventually forming C-SPAN's first board of directors.

C-SPAN was launched on March 19, 1979, in time for the first session made available by the House of Representatives, beginning with a speech by then-Tennessee representative Al Gore. Upon its debut, only 3.5 million homes were wired to see C-SPAN, and the network had just three employees. The second C-SPAN channel, C-SPAN2, launched on June 2, 1986 when the U.S. Senate opened its chambers to TV cameras. C-SPAN3, the most recent expansion channel, began full-time operations on January 22, 2001, and shows other public policy and government-related live events on weekdays along with weekend historical programming. C-SPAN3 followed a predecessor digital channel called C-SPAN Extra, launched in the Washington-area in 1997, televising live and recorded political events from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST Monday to Friday.

C-SPAN Radio launched on October 9, 1997, covering similar events as the TV networks and often simulcasting their programming. The station broadcasts on WCSP 90.1 FM in Washington, D.C., is also available on XM Channel 119 and is streamed live at c-span.org. It was formerly available on Sirius satellite radio from 2002–2006.

Anniversaries

C-SPAN reached its 10th anniversary in 1989 and celebrated with a three-hour retrospective, featuring Lamb recalling the development of the network. The 15th anniversary was commemorated in a more unusual manner; the network launched a series of re-enactments of the seven historic Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, which were televised from August to October in 1994.

With C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb and then-president of C-SPAN Paul FitzPatrick, Sen. Robert Byrd flips the switch for C-SPAN2 on June 2, 1986.

In 2003, C-SPAN celebrated its 25th anniversary, by which time the original network was carried in 86 million homes, C-SPAN2 was in 70 million homes and C-SPAN3 was in 8 million homes. On the anniversary date, C-SPAN repeated the first televised hour of floor debate in the House of Representatives from 1979 and, throughout the month, 25th anniversary features included "then and now" segments with journalists who had appeared on C-SPAN in its early years.

Government access

C-SPAN continues to expand its coverage of government proceedings, with a history of requests to government officials for greater access, especially to the U.S. Supreme Court. In December 2009, Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate, requesting that negotiations for health care reform be televised on C-SPAN. Committee meetings on health care were subsequently shown on C-SPAN and are available on the C-SPAN website. In November 2010, Lamb wrote to incoming House Speaker John Boehner requesting changes to restrictions on cameras in the House. In particular, C-SPAN asked to add some of its own robotically operated cameras to the existing government-controlled cameras in the House chamber. In February 2011, Boehner denied the request. C-SPAN had previously written to Speaker Designate Nancy Pelosi on December 14, 2006, requesting to add its own cameras in the House chamber to record floor proceedings. Although C-SPAN uses the congressional floor feeds, the cameras are owned and controlled by each respective body of Congress. The Pelosi request was denied. Requests by C-SPAN for camera access to non-government events such as the annual dinner held by the Gridiron Club have also been denied.

Expansion and technology

Since the late 1990s, C-SPAN has significantly expanded its online presence. In January 1997, C-SPAN began real-time streaming of C-SPAN and C-SPAN2 on its website. This was the first time Congress had been live streamed online. To cover the Democratic and Republican conventions and the presidential debates in 2008, C-SPAN launched two standalone websites: the Convention Hub and the Debate Hub. In addition to real-time streams of C-SPAN's television networks online, c-span.org also features further live programming such as committee hearings and speeches that air later in the day, after the House and Senate have gone out.

C-SPAN began promoting audience interaction early in its history, through the regular incorporation of viewer calls in its programming. It has since expanded into social media, incorporating Twitter in its broadcasts. In March 2009, Twitter became an additional way for viewers to interact with guests on Washington Journal, with users of the service submitting questions live to the C-SPAN call-in program. The network also has a Facebook page to which it added occasional live streaming in January 2011. The live stream is intended to show selected high-profile events from Congress. In June 2010, C-SPAN joined with Foursquare to provide users of the application with access to geotagged C-SPAN content at various locations in Washington, D.C.

In 2010 C-SPAN began a transition to high definition telecasts, planned to take place over an 18-month period. The network launched C-SPAN and C-SPAN2 in high definition on June 1, 2010, and C-SPAN3 in July 2010.

Programming

House and Senate

The core programming of C-SPAN is live coverage of the U.S. House and Senate, with the primary C-SPAN channel focusing on the United States House of Representatives. Since 1979, the network has televised more than 24,246 hours of floor action. C-SPAN2, the first of the C-SPAN spin-off networks, provides uninterrupted live coverage of the United States Senate. With coverage of the House on C-SPAN and the Senate on C-SPAN2, viewers can track legislation as it moves through both bodies of Congress. A few key debates in Congress that C-SPAN has covered live include the Persian Gulf conflict in 1991, and the House impeachment vote and Senate trial of Bill Clinton. During periods when the Senate is not in session, C-SPAN2 carries other public affairs programming.

Public affairs

The public affairs coverage on the C-SPAN networks other than the House and Senate floor debates is wide-ranging. C-SPAN is viewed as a useful source of information for journalists, lobbyists, educators and government officials as well as casual viewers interested in politics, due to its unedited coverage of political events. C-SPAN has been described by media observers as a "window into the world of Washington politics" and it characterizes its own mission as being "to provide public access to the political process". The networks cover U.S. political campaigns, including the Republican, Democratic and Libertarian presidential nominating conventions in their entirety. Coverage of presidential campaign events are provided during the duration of the campaign, both on a weekly television program, Road to the White House, and at its dedicated politics website.

C-SPAN broadcasts the opening of the 112th Congress on January 5, 2011.

All three channels televise events such as White House press briefings and presidential speeches, as well as other government meetings including Federal Communications Commission hearings and Pentagon press conferences. Other U.S. political coverage includes State of the Union speeches, congressional hearings and presidential press conferences. According to the results of a survey following the 1992 presidential election, 85% of C-SPAN viewers voted in that election. In addition to this political coverage, the network carries press conferences and meetings of various news media and non-profit organizations, including those at the National Press Club, public policy seminars and the White House Correspondents' Dinner. While C-SPAN does not have video access to the Supreme Court, the network has used the Court's audio recordings accompanied by still photographs of the justices and lawyers to cover the Court in session on significant cases, and has covered individual Supreme Court justices' speaking engagements.

Occasionally, proceedings of the Parliament of Canada, Parliament of the United Kingdom (usually Prime Minister's Questions and the State Opening of Parliament) and other governments are shown on C-SPAN when they discuss matters of importance to viewers in the U.S. Similarly, the networks will sometimes carry news reports from around the world when major events occur—for instance, C-SPAN carried CBC Television coverage of the September 11 attacks. Newscasts and other broadcasts in foreign languages are dubbed into English. Following the deaths of Ronald Reagan in 2004, Rosa Parks in 2005 and Gerald Ford in 2006, C-SPAN featured live, uninterrupted coverage of the visitors who came to the Capitol Rotunda to pay their final respects and the funeral services. The network also provided coverage of Lady Bird Johnson's funeral in Stonewall, Texas. In 2005, C-SPAN covered Hurricane Katrina through New Orleans' NBC affiliate WDSU, as well as Hurricane Ike coverage via Houston's CBS affiliate KHOU. C-SPAN also carries CBC coverage during events that affect Canadians, such as the Canadian federal elections, the death and state funeral of Pierre Trudeau, and the 2003 North America blackout. In early 2011, C-SPAN carried broadcasts by Al Jazeera to cover the events in Egypt, Tunisia and other Arab nations. Additionally, C-SPAN simulcasts NASA Space Shuttle mission launches and landings live, using the footage and audio from NASA TV.

With its public affairs programming, C-SPAN aims to offer different points of view, by allowing time for multiple viewpoints to be discussed on a given topic. However, this practice is not always successful as in 2004, when C-SPAN intended to televise a speech by Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt adjacent to a speech by Holocaust denier David Irving, who had unsuccessfully sued Lipstadt for libel in the United Kingdom four years earlier. C-SPAN received criticism for its use of the word "balance" to describe the plan to cover both Lipstadt and Irving. Once Lipstadt closed media access to her speech, C-SPAN canceled coverage of both.

The network strives for neutrality and a lack of bias; in all programming, the content is the focus and when on-camera hosts are present their role is simply to facilitate and explain proceedings to the viewer. Due to this policy, no C-SPAN host has said his or her own name on television.

C-SPAN and C-SPAN2 flagship programs

While many hours of programming on C-SPAN are dedicated to coverage of the House, the network's daily programming begins with the political call-in and interview program Washington Journal every morning at 7 a.m. Eastern Time. Washington Journal launched January 4, 1995 and has appeared every weekday morning since then, with guests including elected officials, government administrators and journalists. Among the hosts is the political editor Steve Scully, a native of Erie, Pennsylvania. The program covers current events, with guests answering questions on topics provided by the hosts as well as from members of the general public. On the weekend schedule, C-SPAN's flagship programs are: America and the Courts, which is shown each Saturday at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, Newsmakers, a Sunday morning interview program with newsworthy guests; Q&A, a Sunday evening interview program hosted by Brian Lamb, with guests including journalists, politicians, authors and other public figures; and The Communicators, which features interviews with prominent communications figures including government officials and private sector representatives.

Washington Journal host Greta Brawner interviews Adm. Thad Allen, USCG (Ret.) on May 26, 2010.

On weekends C-SPAN2 dedicates its schedule to non-fiction books, book events and authors, with 48 hours of programming called Book TV, first launched in September 1998. This includes: programs featuring historical books and biographies of public figures; In Depth, a live, monthly, three-hour interview with a single author; After Words and repeats of Booknotes. After Words is an author interview program featuring guest hosts interviewing authors on subjects with which both are familiar. The program was developed as a new spin on author-interview programs following the end of production of Booknotes, which was C-SPAN's previous author-interview program. Booknotes originally ran from 1989 to 2004, with a one-hour one-on-one interview of a non-fiction author as its format. Repeats of the interviews remain a regular part of the Book TV schedule under the title Encore Booknotes. The Book TV weekend programming also includes coverage of book events such as panel discussions, book fairs, book signings, readings by authors and tours of bookstores around the U.S.

C-SPAN3

The programming on C-SPAN3 from Monday to Friday features uninterrupted live public affairs events, in particular political events from Washington. Each weekend the network airs 48 hours of programming dedicated to the history of the U.S., branded as American History TV, which was launched on January 8, 2011. The programming covers the history of the U.S. from the founding of the nation through to the late 20th century. Programs include American Artifacts, which is dedicated to exploring museums, archives and historical sites, and Lectures in History, featuring top university history professors giving lectures on U.S. history. In 2009, C-SPAN3 aired an eight-installment series of interviews from the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas, which featured historian Richard Norton Smith and Vice President Walter Mondale, among other interviewees.

Special programming

C-SPAN has occasionally produced spinoff programs from Booknotes focusing on specific topics. In 1994, Booknotes collaborated with Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer to produce a re-creation of the seven Lincoln–Douglas debates. Several years later, a similar series retraced the journey of Alexis de Tocqueville described in Democracy in America. Another special series was "American Writers", a 38-week tour of the U.S. based on the works of 40 famous American writers.

In 2008 to 2009, as part of programming specially commissioned for the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, C-SPAN produced a series titled Lincoln 200 Years, which featured episodes on a variety of topics relating to the life of Lincoln including his career, his homes and his views on slavery.

The network has also produced special feature documentaries on American institutions and historical landmarks, exploring their historical background through to the present day. These programs include: The Capitol focusing on the history, art and architecture of the U.S. Capitol Building; The White House, featuring footage inside the White House and exploring the history of the building and its occupants; The Supreme Court, focusing on the history and personalities of the court; and Inside Blair House, a behind-the-scenes look at the president's guest house.

Radio broadcasts

In addition to the three television networks, C-SPAN also broadcasts via C-SPAN Radio via WCSP 90.1 FM in Washington, D.C. and nationwide on XM Satellite Radio. Its programming is also livestreamed at c-span.org and is available via an iPhone app. C-SPAN Radio takes a selective approach to its broadcast content, rather than duplicating the television network programming, although it does offer some audio simulcasts of programs such as Washington Journal. Unique programming on the radio station includes oral histories, and some committee meetings and press conferences not shown on television due to programming commitments. The station also compiles the Sunday morning talk shows for a same-day rebroadcast without commercials, in rapid succession.

Availability online

C-SPAN archival video is available through the C-SPAN Video Library, maintained by C-SPAN archives in West Lafayette, Indiana. First unveiled in August 2007, the C-SPAN Video Library contains all of the network’s programming since 1987, totaling more than 160,000 hours at its completion of digitization and public debut in March 2010. Older C-SPAN programming continues to be added to the library, dating back to the launch of the network in 1979, although some limited earlier footage from the National Archives, such as film clips of Richard Nixon’s 1972 trip to China, is available as well. Most of the recordings before 1987 (when the C-SPAN Archive was established) were not saved, except approximately 10,000 hours of video which are slated to be made available online. Described by media commentators as a landmark educational tool and a valuable resource for researchers of politics and history, the C-SPAN Video Library has also played a key role in media and opposition research in several U.S. political campaigns.

Prior to the launch of the C-SPAN Video Library, websites such as Metavid and voterwatch.org hosted House and Senate video records. However C-SPAN contested Metavid's usage of C-SPAN copyrighted footage. The result was Metavid's removal of portions of the archive produced with C-SPAN's cameras, while preserving its archive of government-produced content. C-SPAN also engaged in actions to stop parties from making unauthorized uses of its content online, including its video of House and Senate proceedings. Most notably, in May 2006, C-SPAN requested the removal of Stephen Colbert's performance at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner from YouTube. Following concerns by some bloggers, C-SPAN gave permission for Google Video to host the full event. On March 7, 2007 C-SPAN liberalized its copyright policy for current, future, and past coverage of any official events sponsored by Congress and any federal agency and now allows for attributed non-commercial copying, sharing, and posting of C-SPAN video on the Internet, excluding re-syndication of live video streams. The new policy did not affect the public's right to use the public domain video coverage of the floor proceedings of the U.S. House and Senate.

In addition to the programming available in the C-SPAN Video Library, all C-SPAN programming is available as a live feed streamed on its website in Flash Video format. In 2008, C-SPAN's online political coverage was expanded in the run up to the elections, with the introduction of three special pages on the C-SPAN website: the C-SPAN Convention Hubs and C-SPAN Debate Hub, which offered video of key events as well as tracking convention and debate coverage in the blogosphere and on social media.

Organization and operations

C-SPAN is operated by the National Cable Satellite Corporation, a non-profit organization whose board of directors consists primarily of representatives of the largest cable companies. Early chairmen of C-SPAN include Bob Rosencrans, John Saeman, Ed Allen and Gene Schneider. Funding for C-SPAN does not come from advertising; instead, it receives nearly all of its funding from subscriber fees charged to cable and DBS operators. As the network is an independent entity, neither the cable industry nor Congress has power over the content of its programming.

As of June 2010, the network has more than 225 full and part-time employees. C-SPAN's chairman and CEO is Brian Lamb, who is assisted in leading the organization by co-presidents, Susan Swain, and Robert Kennedy. The majority of C-SPAN's employees are based at C-SPAN's headquarters located on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., however in 2003 TV studios were opened in New York and Denver, Colorado. These studios use digital equipment that can be controlled from Washington. C-SPAN also maintains archives in West Lafayette, Indiana at the Purdue Research Park under the direction of Dr. Robert X. Browning.

Audience

There are no official viewing figures for C-SPAN because the network, which carries no commercials or underwriting spots, does not use the Nielsen ratings, however there have been a number of surveys providing estimated figures. A 1994 survey found that 8.6% of the U.S. population regularly watched C-SPAN. Ten years later this figure had increased to 12% of the U.S. population, according to a Pew Research Center survey, while 31% of the population was categorized as occasional viewers. As of 2004, over 28 million people said they watched C-SPAN programming each week. A March 2009 Hart Research survey found that 20 percent of homes with cable TV watch C-SPAN at least once a week, for an estimated 39 million Americans. More than 7,000 callers had taken part in discussion on Washington Journal as of March 18, 2009. The C-SPAN networks are available in over 100 million households as of 2010, not including access to the C-SPAN websites. The results of a poll conducted by C-SPAN and Penn Schoen Berland estimates that 79 million adults in the U.S. watched C-SPAN at some point from 2009 to 2010.

Public and media opinion

A 2010 survey of C-SPAN's viewers found that the network's most-valued attribute was its balanced programming. The survey's respondents were a mixed group, with 31 percent describing themselves as "liberal," while 28 percent described themselves as "conservative", and the survey found that C-SPAN viewers are an equal mix of men and women across all age groups.

C-SPAN's public service nature has been praised as an enduring contribution to national knowledge. The network has received positive media coverage for providing public access to proceedings such as the Goldman Sachs Senate hearings and the U.S. 2010 Healthcare Summit, while its everyday programming has been credited with providing the media and the general public with an intimate knowledge of U.S. political proceedings and figures in Washington. The ability of C-SPAN to provide this service without federal funding, advertising or soliciting viewer contributions has been highlighted by local newspapers and online news services alike, with the Huffington Post calling C-SPAN's $55 million dollar annual budget, "an astounding bargain." In an article on the 25th anniversary of the network, The Washington Post noted that C-SPAN's programming has been copied by television networks worldwide and credits the network with bringing world politics to American viewers. According to The New York Times, C-SPAN's mission to record official events within Washington make it "one of a kind", particularly in the creation of the C-SPAN Video Library, which received significant press coverage.

Despite its stated commitment to providing politically balanced programming, C-SPAN and its shows such as Washington Journal, Booknotes, Q & A, and Afterwords have been accused of having a conservative bias. C-SPAN's CEO Brian Lamb was a volunteer for Richard Nixon in the 1968 presidential election, and later worked as press secretary to Senator Peter H. Dominick (R-CO). The liberal media criticism organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) released a study of C-SPAN's morning call-in show Washington Journal, showing that Republicans were favored as guests over Democrats by a two-to-one margin during a six-month period in 2005, and that people of color are underrepresented.

Must-carry

The must-carry regulations, passed by Congress in 1992, affected the availability of the C-SPAN networks, in particular C-SPAN2, as some providers chose to cut the channel altogether. Between 1993 and 1994 cable systems in 95 U.S. cities dropped or reduced broadcasts of C-SPAN and C-SPAN2, following the implementation of the must-carry regulations. Viewers protested these decisions, especially when the moves coincided with matters of local interest occurring in the House or Senate. Some communities, such as Eugene, Oregon and Alexandria, Virginia, were successful in restoring C-SPAN availability. C-SPAN carriage was also restored in areas where improvements in technology allowed for mandatory stations and the C-SPAN networks to both be carried.

Other C-SPAN services

C-SPAN Digital Bus, which tours the U.S. educating the public about C-SPAN resources.

C-SPAN offers a number of public services related to the network's public affairs programming. A free membership service for teachers called C-SPAN Classroom was launched by C-SPAN in July 1987, offering support for using C-SPAN resources in classes or for research. In November 1993, C-SPAN launched the C-SPAN School Bus, which travels around the U.S. educating the public about government and politics using C-SPAN resources. The bus also records video footage of the places that it visits. A new version of the bus, the C-SPAN Digital Bus was launched in 2010, introducing the public to C-SPAN's enhanced digital products. C-SPAN has also launched three Local Content Vehicles (LCVs) to travel the country and record unique political and historical stories, with each vehicle containing production and web-based technologies to produce on-the-spot content.

C-SPAN also has published ten books based on its programming, containing material both original and taken from interview transcripts. These include five books drawn from the former Booknotes program: Booknotes: Life Stories, Booknotes: On American Character, Booknotes: Stories from American History,Booknotes: America's Finest Authors on Reading, Writing and the Power of Ideas, the latter a compilation of short monologues taken from the transcripts of Lamb’s interviews, and a companion book to the series on Tocqueville, Traveling Tocqueville's America: A Tour Book. The first published C-SPAN book, C-SPAN: America's Town Hall, was published in 1988. Since then C-SPAN has published four more books: Gavel to Gavel: A C-SPAN Guide to Congress, Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb?, a guide to the grave sites of U.S. presidents, Abraham Lincoln - Great American Historians On Our Sixteenth President, a collection of essays based on C-SPAN interviews with American historians, and The Supreme Court, which features biographies and interviews with past Supreme Court judges together with commentary from legal experts.

Shows

• After Words
• America and the Courts
• Booknotes (See also: List of Booknotes interviews)
• In Depth
• Road to the White House
• Q & A
• Washington Journal

Special programs

• The Supreme Court: Home to America's Highest Court
• The White House: Inside America's Most Famous Home
• American Presidents (video series)
• Presidential Libraries (video series)
• Inside Blair House

See also

• Al Jazeera Mubasher
• BBC Parliament
• Houses of the Oireachtas Channel
• DD Lok Sabha
• Rada TV
• CPAC
• A-PAC

External links

• Official website
• C-SPAN Video Library
• C-SPAN Classroom Educator Resources
• TV History: Exploring the Secret Capitol