Two federal lawmakers have sent a letter to multiple streaming cable television replacements, urging them to carry the political affairs network C-SPAN on their platforms.
The letters, penned by Representative Mike Flood of Nebraska and Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, were sent to the chief executives at Fubo, the Walt Disney Company’s Hulu and Google-owned YouTube, with a request that their cable-like streaming services carry the channel to help Americans stay on top of political affairs in Washington.
Flood and Wyden noted a growing number of Americans have “cut the cord” — or moved away from expensive cable and satellite services — in favor of cheaper streaming services over the past few years. The letter affirmed C-SPAN’s commitment to carrying non-partisan coverage of the U.S. Congress and the White House over the past four decades.
C-SPAN is funded by a consortium of cable and satellite operators as a public service. Comcast, Charter Communications, Dish Network and DirecTV are among those that financially support the network, which operates three multiplex channels — one covering the U.S. House of Representatives, one covering the U.S. Senate and a spillover channel that airs committee hearings and other events.
To date, only two streaming services have carried C-SPAN on their platforms: DirecTV Stream, which is owned by the satellite company DirecTV, and Level News, a service that charged $6 per month for streaming access to the three C-SPAN channels, Bloomberg, NewsNation and France 24 before shutting down in September 2023.
DirecTV Stream carries the channel based on DirecTV’s involvement in funding C-SPAN, which grants it distribution rights to offer C-SPAN programming on its co-owned platforms. The situation with Level News was more unique, in that the company negotiated a commercial license to carry its channels — the first time C-SPAN had brokered such a deal in the history of the network.
Broadcasters like C-SPAN have the legal right to seek financial compensation in exchange for commercial cable, satellite and streaming services carrying their channels. As with DirecTV, cable companies like Comcast, Charter’s Spectrum TV and Dish Network are granted redistribution rights by virtue of their financial commitment to C-SPAN’s operation.
But that money has started to dry up as cable and satellite customers leave those services for streaming platforms, many of which do not carry C-SPAN. As customers leave, the per-subscriber fee that cable and satellite companies pay to fund C-SPAN is reduced, which has put financial strain on the network in recent years.
Streaming platforms like Fubo, YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV can make up the difference as customers flock to those services, Flood and Wyden argued this week. The monthly cost of carrying the C-SPAN multiplex is around seven cents per subscriber, they argued — significantly less than the $2.50 per subscriber charged to carry Fox News and $1.30 per subscriber to carry CNN. (Fubo does not carry CNN, because it does not have a distribution agreement with parent company Warner Bros Discovery.)
The cost of carrying C-SPAN channels could easily be absorbed by Fubo, YouTube and Disney, given their willingness to invest in other, more-expensive channels, the lawmakers argued.
“While carrying C-SPAN may not dramatically grow your companies’ subscriber numbers, it will provide your current subscribers an essential resource for understanding what their government is doing,” the two wrote. “As innovative American companies, such an investment in civic education benefits your company, your subscribers, and the broader public interest.”
Viewpoint: YouTube TV carrying C-SPAN makes no sense
In the meantime, there are other ways for customers of those streaming services to watch coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate and committee hearings. All House and Senate sessions are streamed live through their respective government websites, and most major sessions are also streamed on YouTube. Likewise, the C-SPAN apps and website make all House and Senate floor sessions available to stream for free, without requiring users to authenticate with a cable or satellite subscription.
Committee hearings are often streamed online, too, though their availability depends on the committee. Most major committee hearings are available to stream on YouTube, and many news organizations will offer free live streams on YouTube, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) as well.
