In a fast-evolving media landscape, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is making waves by reasserting its commitment to the public interest. With policy shifts poised to relax ownership limits, enforce the rollout of the ATSC 3.0 digital broadcasting standard, and sustain the retransmission consent framework that fuels profitability, broadcasters are at a crossroads. The choices they make now could determine how they’re regulated, perceived, and supported going forward.
Amid these developments, one practical yet profound move stands out: broadcasters should be encouraged—or even required—to carry C-SPAN channels. As the non-profit public affairs network faces declining distribution in the streaming era, this proposal is not just about content carriage. It’s about safeguarding civic transparency, fulfilling public interest mandates, and securing long-term relevance in an era of accountability.
C-SPAN: A Pillar of Civic Engagement at Risk
C-SPAN, established in 1979 by the cable industry, has long been America’s only unfiltered window into its federal government. Unlike mainstream media, which packages political content with editorial framing and commercial breaks, C-SPAN simply documents. Congressional hearings, floor debates, town halls, Supreme Court oral arguments, and policy briefings are presented as they occur—raw, uninterrupted, and authentic.
This commitment to transparency is essential for a functioning democracy, especially at a time when public trust in media is declining and misinformation is rampant. Yet, ironically, C-SPAN’s reach is shrinking. From a peak of 100 million households in 2013, viewership access has fallen to about 51 million today. And with only 69 million U.S. households still subscribed to pay-TV, that trend is likely to worsen.
Making matters worse, major virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs)—like YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV—don’t carry C-SPAN. Their refusal is based not on content quality, but revenue concerns. C-SPAN doesn’t sell ads, and platforms chasing commercial margins don’t see value in civic programming. But the stakes are too high for that rationale to go unchallenged.
FCC’s Renewed Vision for Public Service
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and the current leadership are doubling down on the agency’s founding principle: broadcasters, as stewards of scarce public airwaves, must serve the public interest. Carr has explicitly drawn a line between national programming pipelines and truly local broadcasters, arguing that local stations must do more than rebroadcast coastal entertainment—they must serve their communities, inform local discourse, and contribute to civic life.
This renewed focus isn’t just philosophical. The FCC is preparing to enforce public interest obligations more rigorously, even suggesting license revocation—what Carr calls a “regulatory death penalty”—for violators. At the same time, the FCC is preparing to modernize broadcast infrastructure through ATSC 3.0, which enhances spectrum efficiency and expands channel capacity.
This convergence of stricter public interest enforcement and technological expansion presents both risk and opportunity for broadcasters. To stay in good standing and win regulatory favor, they need clear, measurable actions that serve the public good. Carrying C-SPAN offers exactly that.
Why Carrying C-SPAN Is a Strategic and Civic Win
1. Direct Public Interest Compliance
Few actions align more perfectly with the FCC’s public interest mandate than broadcasting C-SPAN. It’s nonpartisan, factual, and civic-minded—qualities that fulfill broadcasters’ obligations to their communities without controversy. Rather than produce costly local political programming, broadcasters can distribute an existing, comprehensive solution that has been trusted for decades.
2. Restoring Access to Transparent Government
In the current media environment, where social media clips and partisan commentary dominate the political narrative, the ability to see the unedited work of elected officials is vanishing. C-SPAN fills this gap. By bringing it to over-the-air broadcast and local digital platforms, stations can restore access to democracy in its rawest, most honest form.
3. Making Use of ATSC 3.0’s Expanded Capacity
The digital transition to ATSC 3.0 allows for more channel offerings, ultra-HD content, enhanced emergency alerts, and interactive features. With this technical leap, stations have room to add public service programming like C-SPAN without sacrificing entertainment content. This is not about squeezing in a niche channel; it’s about using new capabilities to deliver more value to the public.
4. Satisfying FCC While Maintaining Profitability
Critics may argue that C-SPAN doesn’t generate revenue. But with robust retransmission consent fees and still-strong local ad revenue, broadcasters are not financially fragile. In fact, offering C-SPAN could serve as a regulatory goodwill gesture—helping them make the case for relaxed ownership rules or favorable terms for costly infrastructure upgrades. In short: C-SPAN carriage may cost little but return much in goodwill.
5. Filling the Streaming Platform Void
With streaming services ignoring C-SPAN, over-the-air broadcasters and station-run digital platforms have a unique opportunity. By adding C-SPAN content to their broadcast and digital lineups, local stations can reclaim audiences looking for trusted, nonpartisan content not available through streaming giants.
How Broadcasters, Regulators, and Citizens All Benefit
For broadcasters, carrying C-SPAN could become a strategic asset. It’s a visible, measurable act of public service. When negotiating for regulatory benefits like greater consolidation rights, ATSC 3.0 deployment funding, or reduced compliance costs, pointing to C-SPAN carriage is a compelling card to play.
For the FCC, incentivizing or mandating C-SPAN carriage (potentially in coordination with the cable industry) is a clean, actionable way to demonstrate that its public interest mandates are real. It proves that the FCC isn’t merely offering lip service to civic ideals—it’s enforcing them with purpose.
And for the public, the benefit is most tangible: continued, universal access to government as it unfolds. Whether through an antenna, a mobile app, or a local broadcaster’s website, viewers gain unfiltered insight into how laws are made, policies debated, and representatives perform.
Looking Ahead: A Simple, Powerful Civic Commitment
As broadcasters upgrade to ATSC 3.0, face tighter scrutiny from regulators, and seek relevance in a post-cable media environment, adding C-SPAN isn’t just symbolic—it’s strategic. It affirms a station’s public service mission, strengthens its regulatory standing, and delivers something irreplaceable to the American people: trust in the democratic process.
Now is the moment to act. The FCC is watching. The public is watching. Democracy is, too. Carrying C-SPAN is more than just good optics—it’s good policy, good business, and great citizenship. Broadcasters should embrace it fully, and the FCC should ensure they have every reason to do so.
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