Earlier this month, YouTube TV subscribers were the victims of a lengthy carriage dispute between the streaming service and Disney, resulting in Disney-owned channels like ESPN and ABC being temporarily removed from the platform for several weeks. However, that was not the only carriage dispute YouTube TV has been involved in recently.
YouTube TV had also been in a standoff with the public affairs network C-SPAN over its three channels. However, it seems that the dispute is now over, bringing all three of those channels to YouTube TV’s live streaming service.
What is C-SPAN?
C-SPAN, which is an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is a non-profit American media company that provides unfiltered coverage of United States government proceedings.
The coverage focuses primarily on the House and Senate in Washington D.C., along with other public affairs programming like speeches and political events. The network provides direct access to the political process and, unlike cable news networks, offers no commentary or opinion.
At its peak a decade ago, C-SPAN was available to around 100 million homes with television across the country, according to the Associated Press. With many families and individuals moving away from cable and satellite and embracing cord-cutting, that number had dropped to around 70 million, and Congress wanted to fix that.
This spring, Congress made a direct push to add C-SPAN coverage to streaming services like YouTube TV and Hulu. In September, they finally got their wish, striking a deal with YouTube TV and Hulu. However, it took some time for YouTube TV to officially add the C-SPAN channels to its platform.
C-SPAN Comes to YouTube TV
Though YouTube TV reached a deal to bring C-SPAN channels to its platform back in September, those channels had still remained off the platform’s lineup. As 9to5Google pointed out, however, that officially changed this week.
Beginning on Thursday, all three C-SPAN channels officially began streaming on YouTube TV for all customers.
“C-SPAN — along with C-SPAN2 and C-SPAN3 — are now streaming on YouTube TV, providing subscribers with its trademark gavel-to-gavel coverage of ongoing events happening inside the US Congress,” 9to5Google reported this week.
The new channels are not expected to lead to an increase in YouTube TV’s subscription price, as C-SPAN’s fee is just 87 cents per year per subscriber.
A Win For Customers
When the deal was announced back in September, it was met with plenty of celebration.
“C-SPAN has long been a vital resource for civic engagement, and we look forward to partnering with them to both expand their footprint on YouTube and to celebrate America 250 together,” said Mary Ellen Coe, YouTube’s chief business officer, via the Associated Press.
“We are proud that this agreement will give millions more Americans access to our unfiltered coverage of the nation’s political process,” said Sam Feist, C-SPAN’s CEO.
“Really glad to see that after I pressed streaming platforms for months to carry C-SPAN, YouTube and Hulu have decided to do so,” said U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, on social media. “This kind of unfiltered coverage about what’s going on in the halls of Congress is key to staying informed in such a biased media environment.”
Now, YouTube TV customers can continue to stay informed.
