Iowa’s Chuck Grassley praises YouTubeTV, Hulu deal to broadcast C-SPAN

C-SPAN said last week that it had reached a deal to have its three channels air on YouTube TV and Hulu’s live television feed, ending a dispute that had led to a revenue squeeze for the public affairs network in the cord-cutting era.

The network said the streaming services would pay the same fee as cable and satellite companies, roughly 87 cents a year per subscriber, and that C-SPAN would continue its no-advertising policy on television.

Congress involved itself in the issue, passing a resolution this spring calling on the services’ parent companies — Alphabet for YouTube and Disney for Hulu — to add C-SPAN to their programming mix. Because congressional sessions and hearings represent a big portion of C-SPAN’s programming, the politicians faced diminished airtime without a deal.

Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley led the effort on that resolution alongside Minnesota Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

During remarks on the Senate floor last week, Grassley said the resolution highlighted “the importance of continuous Senate coverage for all Americans and the need for live coverage of C-SPAN to be accessible on all platforms.”

Grassley said the new streaming deal will allow Americans to “watch Congress’ actions in real time and see our democracy at work through a nonpartisan lens.”

“I thank all of these entities for being committed to this public service,” Grassley said.

In June, when the resolution passed, Grassley said in a statement that putting C-SPAN on the major streamers would provide transparency and accountability to Congress.

“Transparency brings accountability, and C-SPAN’s coverage has brought transparency to the people’s business,” Grassley said in June. “This public service strengthens our system of self-government by boosting civic engagement, and ought to be available on all television and streaming platforms.”

At its peak a decade ago, C-SPAN was seen in some 100 million homes with television. The number of homes paying for TV has since dropped to some 70 million, with roughly 20 million of those consumers now getting television through services like YouTube and Hulu, and they weren’t showing C-SPAN.

Linear streaming services like YouTube and Hulu accounted for 16 percent of television consumption in July, according to the Nielsen company. The number of people using that alternative to cable or satellite has more than doubled since 2021, Nielsen said.

C-SPAN said its revenues had dropped from nearly $64 million in 2019 to $45.4 million in 2023.

“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.

The deal also helps C-SPAN launch nonprocedural programming like the upcoming series “Ceasefire,” which will bring politicians together to debate differences, and coverage of the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations next year.

That upcoming birthday was cited by Mary Ellen Coe, YouTube’s chief business officer, in announcing the deal.

“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,” she said.

Neither she nor C-SPAN would comment on what broke the logjam in negotiations. It’s a relatively small amount of money for giant companies like Alphabet and Disney that have other business in Washington, and may not have been worth having politicians on their bad side.

“Really glad to see that after I pressed streaming platforms for months to carry C-SPAN, YouTube and Hulu have decided to do so,” U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, said 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.”

The Gazette’s Des Moines Bureau Chief Erin Murphy contributed to this story.