Exclusive:DirecTV will refresh one of its new genre-based television packages to include carriage of C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2, The Desk has learned.
The update is expected to come next week, according to a source familiar with the plan, with the two channels available to subscribers of the “MyNews” package, which costs $40 per month and includes CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, CNBC, Newsmax and local Fox and NBC affiliates, among other channels.
Subscribers will have access to the full schedule of programming on C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2, including gavel-to-gavel coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives (C-SPAN) and U.S. Senate (C-SPAN 2), along with committee hearings and original programming like “Washington Journal” and “Book TV.”
The inclusion of C-SPAN will not result in a price increase for MyNews, the source affirmed. DirecTV is expected to announce the launch of C-SPAN in the MyNews package within the next few days.
Peter Kiley, the Vice President of C-SPAN, said the network was pleased that DirecTV continues to support its programming by making it more-accessible to streamers who prefer to pay for service beyond a traditional TV bundle.
“DirecTV has been a strong and steadfast supporter of C-SPAN, providing our services to their customers since the launch of their satellite service in the 1990s, more recently through satellite-free streaming options, and now through their newly launched MyNews Genre Pack,” Kiley told The Desk earlier this week. “We appreciate their longstanding commitment to our public service and are pleased to collaborate with them to deliver innovative packaging opportunities that serve consumers of news and information with C-SPAN’s unique brand of unbiased and trusted political coverage.”
C-SPAN is financially supported by the cable and satellite TV industry, and the companies and services that bankroll the network — including DirecTV — have the right to distribute its channels. The multiplex has been offered just once beyond traditional pay TV — on Level News, a news-focused streaming service that launched in late 2022 and which shut down a few months later.
The network has faced some financial pressures in recent years as more American TV viewers switch off their cable and satellite plans in favor of cheaper, online-only video services, including streaming cable alternatives like YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV. While those apps may give streamers a decent assortment of entertainment, news and sports networks, they typically lack public service channels like C-SPAN that are carried on traditional TV platforms.
Executives at C-SPAN (and some lawmakers) have pushed for that to change, lobbying YouTube TV parent Google and Hulu owner Disney to start offering their channels to subscribers. C-SPAN charges around seven cents per subscriber — significantly less than the per-subscriber cost of carrying CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.
This week, those calls were renewed when Representative Mike Flood of Nebraska urged streaming cable-like services to consider carrying the C-SPAN multiplex, as first reported by Cablefax.
“Millions of Americans are being denied access to this coverage, because major streaming platforms like YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV refuse to carry C-SPAN,
“It is a service that strengthens our democracy and fosters accountability…(but,) millions of Americans are being denied access to this coverage, because major streaming platforms like YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV refuse to carry C-SPAN,” Flood said. “At a time when trust in government is more important than ever, no company should be standing in the way of public access to democracy and the inner workings of our constitutional republic.”
