The satellite that carries C-SPAN to U.S. cable systems can also be seen by cable systems and home dishes in parts of Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
C-SPAN recently released the results of a viewer survey conducted in December 2000. Below are some highlights from the survey.
New Viewer Survey Highlights
·28.5 million people tune into C-SPAN’s public affairs programming each week:
·Regular viewers watch our networks an average of 12 hours per week:
·93 percent of C-SPAN’s viewers are registered to vote; Nine in ten voted in the 2000 elections
Demographics (among past six-month viewers)
·AGE: 53 percent of past six-month viewers are in the 18 to 49 demographic.
·GENDER: 48 percent are female.
·INCOME: 48 percent report HH incomes of under $50K.
Political Interest & Affiliation: C-SPAN is watched across the political spectrum.
36 percent of past six-month C-SPAN viewers call themselves moderate; 23 percent say they are liberal; and 36 percent are conservative. At the political extremes, 4 percent of C-SPAN viewers defined themselves as very conservative and 5 percent said they were very liberal.
What they watch on C-SPAN (among past six-month viewers)
·39 percent, or an estimated 20 million adults, have watched Washington Journal, C-SPAN’s live morning call-in program.
·50 percent, or 25 million adults, have watched prime-time coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives.
·28 percent, or 14 million viewers have watched Book TV, C-SPAN 2’s weekend programming about nonfiction books and authors.
·40 percent, or 20 million viewers tuned into C-SPAN’s last major history series, American Presidents.
* The survey was conducted for C-SPAN by the Westfield, N.J.-based Statistical Research, Inc. (SRI), under the direction of Dr. Maura Clancey, who has been studying the C-SPAN audience since 1984. The survey was based on a national RDD sample of U.S. telephone households with interviews of 959 randomly selected adults and was conducted in December 2000 by SRI. It is the fifth C-SPAN audience survey conducted by SRI since 1991, including one in each presidential election year since 1992.
C-SPAN is available in more than 79 million homes, C-SPAN 2 in 60 million and C-SPAN 3 in over 3 million.
Loss of C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2
Viewers served by a cable system that drops or reduces access to C-SPAN or C-SPAN 2 should know the following:
· all decisions regarding carriage of programming services are made by the management of the local cable system;
· any decision to change the hours or carriage of C-SPAN was made by the local cable management team and is NOT A CHANGE INITIATED BY C-SPAN OR C-SPAN 2;
· C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2 are 24-hour-per-day programming services and our agreements with operators all seek carriage of both services; and
· that we at C-SPAN are disappointed by the local cable system's decision and are working diligently with their management to restore our service immediately
What viewers can do to help restore C-SPAN or C-SPAN 2 in their area?
Viewer response within a community is a major element cable operators consider when making decisions about carriage. There are many things C-SPAN's loyal viewers can do to help C-SPAN. For more information on how local communities are trying to preserve C-SPAN carriage, visit the Citizens for C-SPAN Web Site. Cable companies are in business to please their customers and they need to know from their customers which of the program services they offer best serve their information needs. In past instances where cable companies have dropped either C-SPAN service, viewers have successfully lobbied to restore the programming.
Each of the following has proven successful in other instances:
· CALL AND WRITE YOUR LOCAL CABLE OPERATOR, even schedule a visit with the General Manager
· write "letters to the editor" at local newspapers
· involve friends who also view our services
If you live in a community where the local cable operator is dropping or reducing subscribers' access to C-SPAN or C-SPAN 2, please e-mail us (viewer@c-span.org) the following information:
name of community
name of cable system (name of manager of system if you know)
details of the problem, ie: C-SPAN or C-SPAN 2 drop or reduction to part-time
why the cable operator is making this change, ie: adding new services, etc.
when will the change occur
how did you find out about the change, ie: newspaper story, system announcement, etc.
