C-SPAN | Definition, History, & Facts (2024)

C-SPAN, nonprofit network that, when launched in 1979, was initially devoted to televising sessions of the U.S. House of Representatives but later expanded, with the creation of additional channels, to air coverage of the U.S. Senate and other government proceedings and public affairs programming.

C-SPAN was the brainchild of Brian Lamb, who came up with the idea while working at a cable industry trade magazine; he later served as the network’s CEO (1979–2012). C-SPAN debuted on March 19, 1979, and was available in some 3.5 million homes. The following year, it introduced a call-in feature, which became extremely popular. In 1981 the network began broadcasting daily, and the following year it moved to a 24-hours-a-day schedule. Although it initially focused on the U.S. House of Representatives, in 1986 the Senate agreed to televised coverage, and C-SPAN2 was introduced to carry those proceedings. C-SPAN3, which began airing in 2001, covers live political events and airs archived historical programming. In addition to the U.S. government, the network also occasionally airs coverage of the British Parliament, the Canadian Parliament, and other governments whose proceedings might be of some importance to viewers. In 2010 C-SPAN was available in more than 100 million households.

C-SPAN does not receive funding from the government. Instead, 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 composed of executives from television operating companies. Adhering to its policy on neutrality, C-SPAN does not sell advertisem*nts 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.

Though viewing levels comparable to entertainment cable networks will likely never be reached, by 2013 the network recorded more than 45 million viewers weekly. Popular programming included both the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions, the impeachment trials of Pres. Bill Clinton, Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court nomination hearings, and the 2000 presidential election recount.

C-SPAN tried to televise Supreme Court hearings, but its cameras were repeatedly denied access. However, the court did allow the network to air an audio recording of the reading of the decision on Bush v. Gore in December 2000. The network covered, with audio only, other seminal cases and often airs speaking events involving the justices.

C-SPAN was the recipient of many honours, including three Peabody Awards (1993, 1999, 2011). The network also published (often with various authors) a number of books.