C-SPAN celebrated its 45th anniversary this year. Since 1979, the nonprofit cable network has given Americans a window on their democracy, continuously delivering nonpartisan, nonprofit, unfiltered insight into American government.
Today, many see C-SPAN as a stodgy antiquity. But I was around when it was founded and remember well how radical an idea it was to allow citizens to watch the workings of their government in real time. Taking advantage of the then-new technology of cable television, everything C-SPAN did broke ground.
Over the past four decades, we have come to take C-SPAN for granted. But this important public service is now threatened by a new technology — online streaming — as consumers increasingly “cut the cord” of their cable subscription.
New technology-driven innovation is as American as apple pie. In 1979, cable television itself was a new technology. What is happening today, however, is that consumers are opting for new cable-like streaming packages with multiple networks. The largest of these services, Google’s YouTube TV, has made the decision to exclude C-SPAN from their channel lineup and thus from American homes.
YouTube TV now surpasses 8 million subscribers, making it now the nation’s fourth-largest pay television distributor. “YouTube TV Coming for Cable” declared Axios Media Trends in February.
While profiting from such competition, however, YouTube TV has ignored the responsibility that accompanies being an American household’s principal connection to television. By omitting C-SPAN from YouTube TV, Google is removing an unfiltered window into the goings-on in Congress, the White House and other parts of the government.
Google’s decision not to carry C-SPAN is baffling and anti-democratic. It can’t be the money involved — Google reported $15 billion in revenue from its multiple subscription services last year. YouTube TV charges subscribers $72.99 per month for 136 channels. To carry C-SPAN would cost Google only 6.25 cents per subscriber per month. In comparison, Fox News Channel charges on average $2.52 per month, and CNN charges about $1.30 a month. C-SPAN’s few cents is a trifle that would cost Google about $6 million a year.
So why does Google block C-SPAN? The simple answer seems to be because they can. Over the years, new competitors to cable such as Verizon Fios and satellite TV providers DirecTV and Dish recognized their public interest obligation to include C-SPAN in their bundle of channels. Google’s decision to sidestep this responsibility not only harms its subscribers, but also threatens the existence of the nonprofit C-SPAN for everyone else.
At a time of heightened citizen interest and concern about American government, Google has kept from its streaming bundle the only private, nonpartisan channel that allows citizens to see their government unfiltered.
C-SPAN has never lobbied Congress to make its channels — and thus live coverage of the Congress itself — “must carry” by video distributors. As more people opt out of traditional cable and satellite television, the channel is facing a threat that could be existential. And if C-SPAN is lost, the country would be the poorer for it. YouTube TV carriage would go a long way in easing that threat.
For decades, cable and satellite operators have done the right thing to offer their subscribers C-SPAN’s window on their government. Google could do the right thing as well. C-SPAN may not be a big moneymaker, but it is a vital public service. Google’s subscribers deserve to have C-SPAN in their bundle of channels.
Tom Wheeler is the former chair of the Federal Communications Commission.