NEW YORK – C-SPAN announced on Wednesday that it has secured agreements to broadcast its three channels on YouTube TV and Hulu’s live television service. This concludes a conflict that had resulted in financial strain for the public affairs network amidst the trend of viewers moving away from traditional cable services.
The network shared that these streaming platforms will compensate with the same rate as cable and satellite companies, approximately 87 cents per subscriber annually. Furthermore, C-SPAN will maintain its policy of airing without advertisements on TV.
Congress took an interest in the situation, passing a resolution earlier this year urging the parent companies of the streaming services — Alphabet, which owns YouTube, and Disney, which owns Hulu — to incorporate C-SPAN into their channel offerings. Given that C-SPAN’s content heavily features congressional sessions and hearings, a deal was crucial for politicians to preserve their airtime exposure.
A decade ago, C-SPAN reached about 100 million television-equipped households. Today, the number has declined to around 70 million, with approximately 20 million consumers opting for services like YouTube and Hulu, which previously did not include C-SPAN.
C-SPAN said its revenues had dropped from nearly $64 million in 2019 to $45.4 million in 2023.
“We are delighted that this agreement will provide millions more Americans with unfiltered access to our coverage of the nation’s political proceedings,” stated Sam Feist, CEO of C-SPAN.
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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.
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