C-SPAN 30 Years
C-SPAN 30 Years
Click image for 30 Years slidehsow
Welcome to the C-SPAN 30th Anniversary Site!
March 19th, 2009 marks 30 years since the U.S. House of Representatives first went on television and the cable industry launched C-SPAN to 3.5 million cable homes. Today, C-SPAN's public affairs programming is available in 97 million cable/satellite households and an estimated 39 million Americans watch C-SPAN regularly (at least once or twice a week). This page contains a number of resources which mark the 30th anniversary.
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30 Years Resources

¤ C-SPAN Milestones
¤ Photo Slideshow

¤ Media Release
¤ C-SPAN Video Library
30 Facts About C-SPAN

1. Date the U.S. House of Representatives goes on TV and the cable industry launches C-SPAN to 3.5 million homes:
March 19, 1979

2. First U.S. Representative to speak on the House floor as C-SPAN's live coverage begins on March 19, 1979:
Al Gore

3. Number of hours of U.S. House debate televised live by
C-SPAN since 1979:
28,603

4. Number of current U.S. Representatives who were in office when C-SPAN begins televising House sessions in March 1979:
18

5. Number of current U.S. Representatives born after C-SPAN's
March 1979 launch:
1

6. Date that the cable industry launches C-SPAN2 with
live U.S. Senate debate:
June 2, 1986

7. Number of hours of U.S. Senate debate C-SPAN2 has carried
live since 1986:
26,954

8. Number of current U.S. Senators who were in the Senate when C-SPAN2 began live floor coverage in June 1986:
17

9. Number of hours of Congressional Committee hearings that C-SPAN has covered since 1981:
19,641

10. Number of video cameras currently owned by C-SPAN:
57

11. Hours of programming stored in C-SPAN's video archives since they were established in 1987:
156,715

12. Number of U.S. TV households that can watch C-SPAN:
97 million

13. Estimated number of cable viewers who watch C-SPAN at least once or twice a week:
39 million
(source: Hart Research)

14. Male/female percentages of C-SPAN's regular audience:
50/50
(source: Hart Research)

15. Percentage of C-SPAN viewers who say they voted in 2008:
90%
(source: Hart Research)

16. Percentage of C-SPAN viewers who say they've watched their Senator or Representative on C-SPAN:
49%
(source: Hart Research)

17. Number of C-SPAN's Washington Journal morning call-in programs since the series began in January 1995:
5,110

18. Number of individual guests who have appeared on C-SPAN's Washington Journal morning call-in programs since the series began in 1995:
7,439

19. Number of Presidential events covered by the C-SPAN networks
since 1980:
7,219

20. Number of hours of first-run coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign on the C-SPAN networks:
4,190

21. Since 1993, number of miles traveled by the C-SPAN Buses as they visited nearly 4,000 schools:
875,985

22. Number of teachers who have signed up as members of C-SPAN Classroom, a free civics teaching program:
24,306

23. Number of entries submitted to C-SPAN's 2009 StudentCam video documentary competition:
921

24. Broadcast frequency of WCSP-FM, C-SPAN's Washington, DC, public affairs radio station, launched in1997:
90.1 MHz

25. Number of nonfiction authors featured on C-SPAN2's BookTV since it launched in 1997:
5,503

26. Number of unique public affairs and history websites currently produced by C-SPAN:
16

27. Year that C-SPAN begins streaming live video on the web:
1997

28. Number of times C-SPAN's video of President Obama's Inaugural Address has been viewed on YouTube:
3.7 million

29. Total license fees paid by cable and satellite companies since 1979 to support C-SPAN operations:
$872 million

30. Amount of federal funds received by C-SPAN to support operations during its 30-year history:
$0

(Numbers Current as of March 2009)

 C-SPAN Featured Video
Washington Journal: C-SPAN 30 Years
Open phones segment with Allan Rivlin of Hart Research on C-SPAN's 30th Anniversary.

The U.S. House on C-SPAN
First coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives, televised on March 19, 1979.

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In the News

BATON ROUGE ADVOCATE:
C-SPAN’s coverage of Congress has inspired state and local government to televise proceedings of their public bodies, too. That’s a great way to promote government transparency and civic engagement. We congratulate C-SPAN on its three decades of public service...
   » Read more

THE HILL:
Happy Birthday C-SPAN — All you public affairs junkies out there should take a moment today to wish C-SPAN a happy 30th birthday. And, according to a Hart Research survey sponsored by the channel, there are a lot of your out there. One in five cable TV households, or about about 39 million Americans, watch C-SPAN a least once a...
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THE HILL:
... having produced thousands of hours of original programming over the years, C-SPAN’s bread and butter has always been providing a forum for average people ...
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BALTIMORE SUN:
C-SPAN turns 30 today — C-SPAN, the camera that never blinks in its coverage of American government, turns 30 today. And to celebrate, the cable industry's public affairs channel is releasing a survey that shows 20 percent of cable TV households, about 39 million viewers, watch C-SPAN regularly...
   » Read more

MEDIABISTRO.COM:
Over "the Hill" C-SPAN Turns 30! — C-SPAN turned the big 3-0 today! To commemorate their 30 year mark, the fine folks at C-SPAN released a list of "30 Facts About C-SPAN." Check out ...
   » Read more

THE ROANOKE TIMES:
Editorial: Happy birthday, C-SPAN — Once upon a time, finding out what happened in Washington was difficult. A few journalists lurked in the Capitol, but they could not report everything. Bills passed unnoticed, floor speeches went unheard, and the folks back home decided if their representatives did a good job based on incomplete, second-hand accounts. That changed 30 years ago...
   » Read more

POLITICO:
C-SPAN marks its 30-year anniversary on Thursday — 30 years since C-SPAN began televising live proceedings from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. During a special segment of Washington Journal, C-SPAN will report updated numbers about its audience size and political involvement of its viewers, based on the results of a new Hart Research survey, and listen to C-SPAN callers talk about what they watch and why. One number from the survey exclusive to Playbook: 34 percent of C-SPAN viewers say they know the name of the majority leader of the U.S. Senate is Harry Reid.

POLITICO PODCAST:
For political junkies, C-SPAN is Must See TV and the network is celebrating its 30th anniversary this month (yes, that means 28,000+ hours of U.S. House debate later ...
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ROLL CALL:
The cable networks launched C-SPAN on March 19, 1979, as a public service to provide Americans with an up-close look at what their elected officials are doing in Washington, DC ...
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STAR TRIBUNE
C-SPAN hits 30 today! What, you didn't hear about its big birthday celebration? That's not a surprise. Because if there's one thing most notable about the network is that it's quiet ...
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POLITICS MAGAZINE
According to C-SPAN, the Twitter era really began 30 years ago, when the in-session exploits of congressmen were first revealed to voters through live television coverage ...
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PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS
It was 30 years ago this month - March 19, 1979 - that the U.S. House of Representatives went on TV for the first time ...
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DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE
Up for the U.S. House of Representatives and C-Span. Thirty years ago this week, the House for the first time opened its door to TV cameras and to a brand-new news outlet, C-Span, focused on the unadorned delivery of information about government and policy. Currently, C-Span reaches a weekly audience of about 39 million...
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LOUISVILLE COURIER JOURNAL
The chatter about Twitter and tweeting has reached such a deafening roar that you probably missed a milestone about a different sort of communication: C-SPAN turned 30 ...
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FORT WORTH STAR TELEGRAM
You needn’t be a policy wonk or lacking in a life to get fascinated by C-SPAN ...
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HARTFORD COURANT
C-SPAN can be seen in 97 million cable/satellite households and has an audience of 39 million who watch regularly - at least once or twice a week. In an age ...
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LAFAYETTE JOURNAL AND COURIER:
But even as news is communicated via videos, RSS feeds and social-networking sites, C-SPAN remains "a tool that enlivens democracy and informs and educates citizens of all ages, at all hours."...
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NATIONAL PRESS CLUB:
Happy 30th Birthday to Longtime NPC Partner, C-SPAN — Three decades ago today the House of Representatives went on TV for the first time, after the cable industry committed to gavel-to-gavel coverage via C-SPAN. Less than a year later — on Jan. 2, 1980 — C-SPAN aired an NPC luncheon featuring...
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RTNDA COMMUNICATOR
With the broader scope it has developed over the years, C-SPAN has been able to delve deeper into the political process ...
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CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS:
We’d be remiss if March passed without noting an important birthday. C-SPAN ...
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DC EXAMINER:
It probably seems to many who read this editorial that C-SPAN has been around forever ...
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DAILY BEAST/ PETER OSNOS:
Thirty years after its founding, C-SPAN may be the butt of many jokes, but the network�s endurance and brilliant business model should make it worthy of praise ...
   » Read more

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT:
C-SPAN Boss Brian Lamb Isn't Slowing Down ...
   » Read more