CNN Washington bureau chief Sam Feist will become the next CEO of C-SPAN, the nonprofit public-affairs network said Tuesday.

Co-CEOs Rob Kennedy and Susan Swain said in March they planned to retire, having held the network reins since 2012. They had succeeded founding CEO Brian Lamb, who still serves on the C-SPAN board. Kennedy is leaving on May 17; Swain will be sole CEO until Feist takes over during the summer. Feist is staying at CNN, where is a senior VP, through June to help with the transition there.

Lamb, Kennedy, Swain and C-SPAN chairman Pat Esser had formed a search committee to find the next CEO. Ann Carlsen of Carlsen Resources led the search, vetting nearly 100 candidates for the job, C-SPAN said. 

Esser, the retired Cox Communications CEO, in a release called Feist "an outstanding leader who is trusted and respected by both sides of the aisle and who has a deep respect for C-SPAN's nonpartisan mission." 

Feist in the release said: “Our democracy needs C-SPAN now more than ever. I look forward to working with C-SPAN’s extraordinary and dedicated team to expand the network’s reach and meet new audiences where they are.”

“C-SPAN is an American treasure and I could not be more excited to lead this essential institution,” Feist said.

C-SPAN described Feist as an editorial leader and a digital and television innovator, with deep relationships throughout the Washington media and politics community. Feist heads CNN’s largest newsgathering operation and leads the digital and editorial transformation of CNN en Español, CNN’s Spanish-language network. 

He graduated from Vanderbilt University and later earned a law degree from Georgetown University. He is an active member of the D.C. Bar, C-SPAN said. 

C-SPAN said that, along with executive management experience in media, the priorities for the next CEO were preserving C-SPAN’s nonpartisan mission while also finding new distribution and funding opportunities as linear cable distribution declines. 

Kennedy and Swain in the release said: “Out of a small group of excellent finalists, Sam Feist stood out for his deep respect for C-SPAN, his leadership skills, his knowledge of Washington, and his digital transformation bona fides. We are confident that we are leaving C-SPAN in good hands.”  

C-SPAN, founded by the cable industry in 1979, operates three TV networks available in 50 million cable and satellite households, an FM radio station in Washington, D.C., and numerous digital offerings. Its archives contain nearly 300,000 hours of contemporary public affairs programming, per the network. 

Rob Kennedy and Susan Swain, co-CEOs of C-SPAN, both plan to step down this year. C-SPAN chairman Pat Esser has been working with Kennedy and Swain on succession planning. 

Kennedy, also C-SPAN's chief financial officer, has targeted mid-May for his retirement. Matt Deprey, C-SPAN VP of finance, will succeed him. Swain's specific plans have not been revealed. 

"As co-CEOs, and in their prior senior management roles, Rob and Susan crafted a dynamic partnership that has served the network, our employees, and our viewers extraordinarily well," said Brian Lamb, C-SPAN founder and board member.

Carlsen Resources will conduct the search for a new CEO. Kennedy, Swain, Esser and Lamb will recommend a candidate to the board.

C-SPAN, which offers viewers unfiltered access to government proceedings, launched in 1979 with a live telecast from the House of Representatives. Live Senate coverage began in 1986. It has 175 employees, three TV networks and a radio station. 

Swain joined C-SPAN in 1982 and Kennedy came on board in 1987. They were named co-CEOs in 2012. 

Throughout her career, Swain has been an on-air host for the network.

Kennedy and Swain were inducted into the B+C Hall of Fame in 2017. Esser, former CEO of Cox Communications, discussed their partnership with B+C at the time. He said: “You don’t find that very often, so you kind of tilt your head. But because of the unique qualities of the two of them and their career experiences, it works extremely well, and it is impressive to see how they utilize each other’s strengths.”

C-SPAN VP of programming Terry Murphy is retiring. Replacing Murphy will be Richard Weinstein, who has been VP of digital media.

Murphy will be wrapping up a 42-year career with C-SPAN on January 6. He joined the network in 1981 as a field tech but moved to programming and headed up that department for decades.

"It's impossible to overstate the impact Terry has had on our network," said C-SPAN co-CEO Susan Swain. "Terry should also be recognized for his outsized editorial impact as an advocate for the public's right to access their government.  When Congress or other public officials said, 'Event's closed,' Terry always asked, 'why?"

Weinstein will head up programming as VP of content, a nod to the multi-platform nature of the business, as will be his mandate to continue to combine traditional TV with digital content.

Weinstein has been with C-SPAN almost as long as Murphy, joining in 1986.

C-SPAN also announced several related changes:

Michael Piccorossi, chief digital officer, will be VP and chief digital officer, heading up digital media.

Ben O'Connell, who has been managing editor, will be director of editorial operations.

Paul Brown, coordinating producer, has been named executive producer.

Greta Brawner, who is both a host and managing producer, will be executive producer of C-SPAN TV networks.

Paul Orgel, a C-SPAN editorial operations veteran, will be senior producer, special history series. ■

C-SPAN is planning to provide live coverage of former President Donald Trump’s expected announcement that he is running again in 2024.

The twice-impeached, never-convicted Trump, who lost his reelection bid in 2020 and has pushed the debunked election fraud conspiracy theory ever since, has been hawking the “HUGE,” “BIG,” “VERY BIG” announcement in a series of emails to supporters and others seeking campaign contributions.

Also: Former Local TV Talent Has Tough Time in Midterm Elections

C-SPAN will cover that announcement at 9 p.m. Tuesday (November 15) from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.

Trump’s announcement comes despite Republicans’ underperformance in the midterms, including by a number of Trump-backed candidates, and despite some members of the Republican party suggesting the former president’s brand has become toxic and he should no longer be the face of the party.

Trump, no stranger to hyperbole, suggested in an email Tuesday that he would be saving the nation from the “calamity and disaster” inflicted by President Joe Biden, which he said was more damage than all five of the worst presidents put together. ■

Not among C-SPAN’s dozens of debate streams and cablecasts over the past few weeks, though not for lack of trying, were arguably the highest-profile political debates in the land: Those between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Republican challenger Herschel Walker and between Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz and Democratic Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who is battling back from a stroke.

Those races are among a handful of close contests that will most likely determine whether Republicans control both houses of the U.S. Congress. Thus, C-SPAN was eager to add them to the roster of debates from local broadcasters it gets permission to present to its nationwide audience. 

Both of those debates were produced and broadcast on stations owned by Nexstar Media Group. C-SPAN said, and Nexstar confirmed, that the cable-industry-supported public affairs network was denied permission to carry them.

It turns out many of those Nexstar debates did get national cable distribution via Nexstar's co-owned cable-news network, NewsNation.

C-SPAN executives say more and more sponsoring organizations — whether journalistic or political — are making debates exclusive this election cycle, and there are fewer debates to choose from.

Broadcasters generally still work with C-SPAN to allow coverage, said C-SPAN political director Nate Hurst, who is repsonsible for lining up debate permission. That group included Nexstar earlier this year with an Ohio Republican primary debate for U.S. Senate, one Hurst called a great debate that was well-structured and well-moderated. He would not speculate on why Nexstar declined to give its permission for the recent debates.

Hurst said there were perhaps a dozen to 15 broadcaster debates this cycle — mostly Nexstar-hosted — that C-SPAN was unable to get permission to carry. That is compared to the 80 or so it did carry, most of which (about 90%, said Hurst) were broadcaster-hosted.

“These debates are produced by Nexstar’s local stations and require a considerable investment of time, effort and expense,” Nexstar executive VP and chief communications officer Gary Weitman said. “The debates are carried by the local Nexstar stations serving the state and many are carried nationally by our cable news network, NewsNation.”

In a world of intense competition, Nexstar is looking for a return on its investment in such important public-interest programming. “When NewsNation carries a debate nationally, we want viewers to tune in to watch the exclusive telecast on NewsNation, which is available in 70 million television homes across the U.S.,” Weitman said.

Nexstar’s desire for exclusivity notwithstanding, C-SPAN said it continues to have “wonderful relationships with broadcasters” overall. “[Broadcasters] have been incredibly generous in letting us take their debates,” Hurst said. C-SPAN, in turn, makes the debates available online free to non-cable subscribers.

While the draw of exclusive content debate hosts is one factor in C-SPAN's drop in the number of debates carried this election cycle — from 120-140 in previous election cycles to about 80 — there is another reason, Hurst said.

“There are just a lot of candidates who aren't debating, or only one debate [as was the case with Fetterman-Oz and Warnock-Walker], which is highly unusual,” he said.

Under Hurst, C-SPAN has been trying to sweeten the pot by giving a national platform to the local broadcast sponsor’s branding. “We used to seek really clean video so we could put our own graphics on them, but I think [showing their branding] is more fair to our broadcast partners who put a lot of money into them and are doing the really heavy lifting,” he said. “So, for example, a debate in Michigan we asked for a feed that has all their logos on it and social media handles.”

Hurst said he believes C-SPAN should always give credit where credit is due. ▪️

The cable industry-backed C-SPAN is making sure cable and broadband subscribers have plenty of access to important political action in their states.

With only two weeks before arguably one of the most important midterm elections in recent memory, C-SPAN is airing and streaming coverage of more than a dozen debates among candidates for governor, U.S. senator and representative over the next week.

On Tuesday (October 25), C-SPAN is airing gubernatorial debates in New Hampshire (live), Florida and Michigan (all of those debates and others will also be available on C-SPAN's website). 

On October 26, the debates are two gubernatorial matchups in New Hampshire (live) and, South Carolina (live), as well as a U.S. Senate debate in Colorado and a governor debate in New York.

On October 27, the lineup is New Hampshire Senate (live), Illinois Senate (live), as well as North Dakota Senate and Alaska House.

On October 28, C-SPAN will air an Alaska Senate debate and on October 21 a New York Senate debate. ▪️

C-SPAN will be blanketing cable and the internet this week with a plethora of debates in advance of the midterm elections.

C-SPAN's suite of public affairs channels and streams is funded by the cable industry as a public service.

For those looking to tune in to their local race, or one of interest elsewhere, here is the lineup, according to C-SPAN:

Wednesday, October 12

• Maryland Gubernatorial Debate — C-SPAN, 8:30 p.m. ET

Thursday, October 13

• Wisconsin Senate Debate (Live) — C-SPAN, C-SPAN Radio, C-SPAN.org and C-SPAN Now app, 7 p.m. ET

Friday, October 14

• Wisconsin Gubernatorial Debate (Live) — C-SPAN, C-SPAN Radio, C-SPAN.org and C-SPAN Now app, 8 p.m. ET 
• Vermont Senate Debate (archived from Oct. 6) — C-SPAN, 9 p.m. ET. 
• Colorado Governor Debate (from last Thursday) — C-SPAN, 10 p.m. ET

Saturday, October 15

C-SPAN will air all of the above in a block, plus some other debates from earlier in the week, including the New Jersey 7th Congressional District, Minnesota 2nd Congressional District and Colorado 3rd Congressional District.

Sunday, October 16

• Georgia 14th District (Live) — C-SPAN, 3:45 p.m. ET 
• Indiana Senate Debate (Live) — C-SPAN, 7 p.m. ET ■

C-SPAN, the suite of public affairs networks funded by the cable industry, has tapped Michael Piccorossi for the newly created post of chief digital officer.

His charge is to improve the networks' "user experience, analytics and results."

Most recently Piccorossi has been managing director of digital product and strategy for the Pew Research Center, whose surveys and analysis of various media issues are widely disseminated. His resume also includes director of online operations for US News and, according to C-SPAN co-CEO Susan Swain, is a faithful C-SPAN viewer. She says that will be helpful as he works to boost C-SPAN's digital presence.

That digital presence already includes podcasts, the C-SPAN Now app, C-SPAN.org (with over 270,000 hours of searchable/shareable content), and a presence on various social media platforms -- Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. ■

C-SPAN has hired D'Annette Roy to be director of legal affairs and business risk management.

Before joining the suite of public affairs networks (her first day was May 16), Roy was manager of standards and practices for the Black News Channel, which shuttered back in March.

Before that she was legislative and policy advisor to D.C.'s Office of Cable Television, Film Music and Entertainment.

"D'Annette brings a wealth of knowledge to C-SPAN and we are thrilled to have her join our team as we deliver on our strategic goals and tackle new and old business challenges," said Matt Deprey, C-SPAN VP of finance, in a statement. "Her background and skill sets are certain to bolster C-SPAN's public service mission and commitment to transparency in government." ■

C-SPAN will carry next week's Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson live.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled the hearings over four days — March 21-24 — beginning at 11 a.m. on Monday (March 21).

In addition to carriage on C-SPAN, the hearings will be on C-SPAN Radio, C-SPAN.org and the C-SPAN Now app.

C-SPAN has long pushed for being able to cover the Supreme Court proceedings as well as the nomination proceedings and Jackson will likely be asked by at least one senator about her view of cameras in the High Court.

Gabe Roth of Fix the Court, which like C-SPAN has been pushing for cameras in the high court, is not expecting any news to come out of that perennial question. "[L]ike everything else during these carefully choreographed hearings nowadays, nominees typically give a boring, noncommittal answer in response, Roth told Scotusblog.

“Case in point: Then-Judge Amy Coney Barrett told the committee in 2020, ‘I would certainly keep an open mind about allowing cameras in the Supreme Court,’ echoing similar sentiments from then-Judges John Roberts, Sonia Sotomayor, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh in years prior,” he said. “I expect Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to give a similar answer when asked later this month. Then-Solicitor General Elena Kagan’s enthusiastic endorsement was and remains an aberration, though it seems that Kagan changed her position after confirmation.”

Roth called the trend “maddening.”

C-SPAN is a suite of public affairs networks and sites funded by the cable industry. ■

A strong majority of respondents to a new poll said the Supreme Court should allow TV coverage of its oral arguments.

That is according to the survey from Pierrepont Analytics commissioned by C-SPAN, which has long advocated for video in the High Court. C-SPAN's suite of public affairs networks has demonstrated the value of television in the political process and the ability to do it unobtrusively.

But an even larger majority (70%) of respondents said that allowing such coverage would build trust in the court's process and rulings. The survey suggests building such trust, if that is the result of cameras in the court, is that while 84% of voters say the court's decisions affect their lives, only 29% say the court is transparent about how cases are decided, while 72% who said they trust the Federal government less than they used to said allowing cameras would build trust.

Also: Cameras in the  Court Bill Reintroduced

More than half (54%) of the respondents knew that the Supreme Court had been providing live audio of those arguments during the pandemic, but the 46% who did signaled they had been listening. Of those, 48% said it had given them a more positive view of the court, 22% said more negative, 26% said neither and 3% did not know.

As the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to hold hearings on the latest Supreme Court nominee, Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson, a plurality of respondents (42%) said that televised hearings on nominees were an "effective and fair" way of deciding who should sit on the court, with 24% saying no, 16% saying it was neither effective nor ineffective, and 18% saying they didn't know.

Pierrepont conducted the survey among 1,011 likely U.S. voters March 3-6. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1% at a 95% confidence level.

Congress has failed to pass cameras in the court laws on numerous occasions, in part due to the opposition of some Justices and the separation of powers issue of Congress telling the judiciary what to do, though those laws have generally given the judges a veto over coverage on a case-by-case basis.

A number of Justices have been reluctant to allow video, afraid it would be taken out of context and repackaged in snippets that would distort the process.

But others have argued it would be a good thing. Then Supreme Court nominee now justice Elena Kagan said during her televised (by C-SPAN) confirmation hearing that she thought it would be "a great thing for the institution and a great thing for the American people." ■

News networks will be massing their journalistic forces to cover events in Washington surrounding the one-year anniversary of the Capitol riots and insurrection spurred by unfounded allegations of significant voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

That‘s according to coverage plans drawn up by some of the news organizations.

Fox News Channel plans extensive January 6 coverage, including an appearance on Special Report with Bret Baier by Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), one of only two Republican members (the other is Adam Kinzinger of Illinois) of the special congressional committee examining that day‘s events.

Fox News‘s coverage of the day's events begins at 9 a.m. with remarks by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the Capitol. Fox News Digital will live-stream the remarks of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as her planned moment of silence.

Coverage will also include interviews with Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Tex.), who barricaded himself inside the chamber; and Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Tex.), who used a chair leg as a potential weapon of self-defense.

Congressional correspondent Chad Pergram will discuss his experiences from that day, which he has also talked about on FOXNews.com.

The January 2 episode of Fox News Sunday aired an interview with Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger.

C-SPAN, the public affairs networks funded by the cable industry, will begin its coverage at 7 a.m. on Washington Journals with viewer calls and a recap of the sights and sounds of the  day and a discussion of the events and hearings that ensued.

C-SPAN will go live with the Biden and Harris remarks and carry the pro forma House session at noon. At 1 p.m. Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden will moderate a conversation with historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jon Meacham on the historical impact of the events.

At 2:30, House lawmakers will share their memories of and reflections on the attack, followed by the 5:30 vigil by congressional leaders on the steps of the Capitol.

ABC News‘s coverage will be led by David Muir. That coverage will include special reports throughout the day, and include Muir's interviews with three of the officers who testified in a congressional hearing on the riots, which will air on World News Tonight.

ABC's ongoing coverage has included a January 2 interview with Cheney by George Stehpanopoulos on This Week, and the Wednesday (January 5) debut of documentary Homegrown: Standoff to Rebellion, debuting on streaming platform Hulu.

Good Morning America, GMA3: What You Need to Know and Nightline will also all include coverage of the day's events and import. Nightline will also air Muir‘s interviews with the three officers, while streaming channel ABC News Live will feature insights from ABC News correspondents who covered the attack.

ABC NewsOne, the network's news service supplying content to more than 200 affiliates, will report live from Capitol Hill with multiplatform reporters Faith Abubey and Ike Ejiochi and input from ABC News political director Rick Klein and correspondent Karen Travers.

In addition to covering the day's events, CNN will air "January 6th, One Year Later," a two-hour special live from Capitol Hill starting at 8 p.m. and "honoring the heroes who protected our democracy in the face of an insurrection." The special will be anchored by Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper and feature, among many others, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Select Committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Select Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).

NBC News' coverage of the day begins with a special edition of Today anchored from  Washington by Savannah Guthrie, who will talk with Cheney.

Lester Holt will also anchor his Nightly News newscast from Washington Jan. 6 and 7, with an interview Jan. 6 with House Speaker Pelosi, which NBC is billing as a broadcast-exclusive interview.

NBC News will air special reports throughout the day, including the President's remarks anchored by Guthrie and the 5:30 vigil, hosted by Holt.

On the cable side, MSNBC's Morning Joe will launch its coverage, featuring Peril co-authors Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, followed by daylong coverage on MSNBC Reports, with Katy Tur anchoring the 2 p.m. Congressional commemoration ceremony joined by Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd.

At 4 p.m., Democracy in Peril will feature Nicolle Wallace, Ari Melber, Joy Reid, Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell looking at the insurrection from various angles, including from lawmakers in the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, and the "emotional fallout" from the attack.  

On the streaming front, MSNBC's free news channel, The Choice, will provide Peacock-exclusive content throughout the day.

CBS News will air a special report at 9 a.m. to cover the Biden and Harris remarks.

It will be anchored by Tony Dokoupil from the Capitol, joined by Nancy Cordes, Kris Van Cleave, and Jeff Pegues, and will also stream live on CBSN.

Norah O'Donnell will anchor the Washington-based Evening News from the Capitol.

Cox president Pat Esser has been re-elected chairman of the C-SPAN board.

That came at the public affairs networks' annual meeting, held remotely.

It is a changing of the guard nonetheless, with the election of three new directors and the exit of two of C-SPAN's longest-serving directors.

Also: C-SPAN Launches Free Mobile App

Exiting the board are John Evans, chairman of Evans Telecommunications, and Bob Miron, chairman of Advance Newhouse. Evans has been on the board since 1978 and Miron since 1986. Both are former chairs of the executive committee.

But there will still be a Miron on the board with the addition of Advance Newhouse CEO Steve Miron, who returns to the board as a senior director, joined by incoming Cox president Mark Greatrex and incoming NCTC CEO Lou Borelli, who takes the seat of his NCTC predecessor, Rich Fickle.

The current executive committee remains intact, comprising Esser (chairman); Comcast CEO Dave Watson (vice chairman); Charter president Tom Rutledge; Julie Laulis, president, Cable One; and Pat McAdaragh, president, Midco. The committee sets strategy and oversees finances.

C-SPAN is a suite of public affairs networks created and funded by the cable industry as a public service and supported by satellite and cable carriage fees.

C-SPAN has added a free mobile video app to its list of public interest platforms, which include the cable nets, website and radio.

C-SPAN, the suite of public affairs networks and programming funded by the cable and satellite industry, said it has just released to the Apple App Store and Google Play, C-SPAN Now, which features video of the day's top political events.

On demand coverage includes gavel-to-gavel coverage of the House and Senate, as well as congressional hearings, White House events, court arguments, campaign events and more.

Users can also access C-SPAN Radio, the newest episodes of "Washington Journal" and "Q&A."

Also Read: Longtime C-SPAN Counsel Bruce Collins Retires

"Through our digital consultancy partnership with software developer Globant, we've built C-SPAN Now to bring C-SPAN's mission — delivering an unfiltered, high-quality viewing and listening experience of our government's proceedings — to another digital platform and to new audiences," said C-SPAN VP of digital media Richard Weinstein of the new app. "Our viewers have been telling us: We want C-SPAN video on an app. Today, we're excited to tell our audience: Here it is."

C-SPAN said that corporate VP and general counsel Bruce Collins is retiring from the network, effective Aug. 2.

Collins's C-SPAN career began in October 1982 as a part-time employee when he was in law school at night, C-SPAN said in a writeup about him. He soon became director of operations and was later named general counsel when he was admitted to the DC bar. He was a VP of C-SPAN’s corporate parent and a trustee of the C-SPAN Education Foundation.

Beyond corporate management, he became a high profile advocate on First Amendment issues for C-SPAN, cable operators and journalism in general, C-SPAN said. Notably with his efforts with others in challenging the cable industry "must-carry" rules. As chairman of an American Bar Association group of lawyers and news media representatives he advocated televised coverage of the federal civil courts and helped organize a 4-year experiment of such coverage that led to a federal court rule that now permits greater TV coverage of courtrooms. Fourteen courts participated in that pilot program and several still offer television coverage to this day. 

Although Collins's efforts toward such TV coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court have yet to come to fruition — here is a story from 2000 on his Supremes-opening efforts — during the COVID pandemic the court took a welcome step toward greater transparency by providing live teleconference-based audio of its oral arguments.

"Bruce Collins has been a perfectly outstanding general counsel at C-SPAN for close to 40 years," C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb said. "He has guided our network through a labyrinth of tricky twists and turns in communication and corporate law during this time without a hitch. His guidance has been critical to our success. Bruce Collins will certainly be missed."

Collins created and authored the monthly column "At the Non-Profit Bar" that ran for 20 years in Corporate Legal Times magazine, later renamed Inside Counsel, addressing a broad range of legal and policy issues related to non-profit, tax-exempt organizations.

A member of the Cable TV Pioneers (mini profile from 2012 here), Collins was the founding president of the Supreme Court Opinion Network (SCON), a nonprofit coalition of legal publishers and news organizations created to provide a skeptical Supreme Court at the time with computers and software to distribute its opinions in real time across the country as they were announced from the bench. He also served for many years as pro bono counsel to the Radio and Television Correspondents Association on Capitol Hill, C-SPAN said.

“He believes he is the first person Brian Lamb hired who was not expected to, and did not, operate any television equipment,” C-SPAN said. “He did, however, host many call-in programs and conduct interviews with hundreds of prominent American political, literary and historic figures. [He is in 874 videos in the C-SPAN library.] Notable among his subjects were I.F. Stone, Studs Terkel, Jeff McNally, Oscar Brand, William F. Buckley, Dick Cheney, Elie Wiesel and Dr. Jonas Salk. He also interviewed the Cartoon Network character Space Ghost at a 1995 cable industry event. Hilarity ensued.“

Before coming to C-SPAN, Collins worked on political campaigns, including one with himself as a candidate, for vice chairman of the state Democratic Committee in New York. He was 19 years old at the time, the year the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18, he said. "My campaign represented the newly-enfranchised voters such as myself. That experience led to other roles in the Committee's statewide activities."

He was a legislative aide on Capitol Hill before joining the cable industry in early 1988 as director of government relations for the National Cable Television Association (now, NCTA–The Internet and Television Association). He has been a longtime supporter of and has raised money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. He also served on its National Capital Area board of directors, including a term as vice chairman.

Nate Hurst has been named political editor of C-SPAN, the public affairs suite of networks funded by the cable industry as a public service. He will head up coverage of campaigns for the White House and Congress as well as state and local elections.

Steve Scully had been political editor, but was suspended last fall after after making up a story about his Twitter account being hacked, then took a buyout offer along with other staffers last month.

Also Read: C-SPAN Offers Buyouts

Hurst has been C-SPAN deputy political editor since 2019 and joined the network in 2014.

He has produced congressional hearings, and meetings of international legislatures and the U.N., a well as some special programming.

Hurst's resume includes CQ Roll Call and Washington correspondent for the Detroit News.

Cox Communications CEO Patrick Esser’s decision to retire at the end of the year — he will be succeeded by company veteran Mark Greatrex — was met throughout the industry with equal parts regret at losing yet another of cable’s old guard and good wishes that one of the good guys gets to end his decades-long cable story on his own terms. 

Esser got his start in the cable business in 1979 as a pole climber for a small cable operator in Waterloo, Iowa. According to an interview he did with this reporter back in 2013 after receiving the industry’s highest honor — the Vanguard Award for Distinguished Leadership — Esser packed up his belongings and drove 1,000 miles to Hampton Roads, Virginia, the site of Cox's latest system buy. The catalyst? One of his sales managers in the Waterloo system was a former Cox employee who couldn’t stop talking about what a great company it was to work for. The then 20-something Esser decided to see for himself.  

“I knocked on the door of the cable system and I got a job as the public-access director,” Esser said at the time. “Everything I heard about Cox was true from the moment I stepped on the property.”

Esser’s first job at Cox was officially director of programming at the Hampton Roads system, and he was part of the management team that pioneered Cox’s advertising sales division now known as Cox Media. In 1991 he was named corporate vice president of advertising sales, rising to vice president of operations for Cox’s Western Division in 1999. A  year later he was promoted to senior vice president of operations and in 2004, Esser was promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer.

In 2006, Esser was tapped to succeed CEO James Robbins, who had said earlier that he would retire that year. Robbins, who died in 2007,  said in a July 2005 interview he couldn’t have hoped for a better person to take the reins.

“Pat has absolutely been the home-run selection,” Robbins said in that July 2005 interview. 

Esser didn’t just have an impact on his own company. While he spearheaded and pushed along efforts to diversify Cox’s workforce and bring the company into the information age, he also enthusiastically waved the cable banner wherever he went. Throughout the years he served as chairman of  NCTA: The Internet & Television Association;  C-SPAN; CableLabs; adviser to the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) and on the national Board of Governors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. 

“Pat Esser’s contribution to our industry has been invaluable,” said NCTA: The Internet and Television Association CEO Michael Powell in a statement. “He’s a true cable success story, rising through the ranks from local executive to company CEO. Throughout, he has represented the heart and soul of our industry, always committed first to the welfare of Cox customers and employees.”

Through his journey throughout the industry, Esser has worked closely with other cable and telecom CEOs. He serves on C-SPAN’s board with Charter Communications chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge and has served with Mediacom Communications founder, chairman and CEO Rocco Commisso on the C-SPAN and NCTA boards. 

“Pat’s had a great career starting at entry level and rising to the top,” Rutledge said in a statement. “I’ve enjoyed working aside him on Industry efforts at NCTA and CableLabs.  Pat’s contribution to the industry is unmatched.  I have been personally lucky to work with Pat in an industry where long term business success has kept us on the same team for decades.  It’s been a pleasure.”

National Cable Television Cooperative CEO Lou Borrelli has known Esser for years, dating back to their early days in cable. Borrelli has logged 43 years in the cable business, beginning with UA-Columbia Cablevision in 1978. Borrelli also was a founding partner of Marcus Cable in 1986. 

"I had the good fortune to meet Pat back when our cable careers were getting off the ground," Borrelli said in a statement. "His energy was infectious and his word was his bond. Through numerous CTAM collaborations, Pat never ran out of ideas and always was up to the challenge. His track record at Cox is a testament to his work ethic and his ethics in business and life. Good luck and godspeed."

Esser also helped drive Cox forward as the industry changed, building on its decades-long reputation as the “gold standard” for the cable industry and unafraid to invest in new businesses like broadband.

“During Pat’s 15 years at the helm, Cox Communications became the gold standard of U.S. telecom companies,” Commisso said in a statement. “Through his many operational successes at Cox and his leadership within NCTA, Pat motivated us all to make the significant private investments necessary to turn our collective broadband networks into America’s most powerful technology platform.   I thank him for his tremendous contributions to our industry and wish Pat and his family all the best in the years ahead.” 

Powell also pointed to Esser’s history as a champion of the NCTA, leading its board of directors and trade show several times, and his commitment to diversity, both at Cox and throughout the industry. 

“Pat has been a leader and innovator in cable marketing; a visionary in cable operations and technology; an ally and champion for diversity, equity, and inclusion; and a thoughtful, forward-looking President & CEO of his company,” Powell continued. “As one of our industry’s most trusted and authentic voices, Pat has immense credibility with policy makers. He has helped provide a strong presence for our industry here in Washington and always has committed Cox Communications to the public good. I will miss Pat enormously as a friend, mentor, and advisor on all of our critical issues. We wish only the very best for him in his next chapter. We’re looking forward to working with Mark Greatrex, another formidable presence in our industry who will be a positive force as we move into the future.”

Esser has served as chairman of C-SPAN for about two years but has been a member of the organization since 2005. The Cox chief has also been a regular video contributor, participating in trade show forums broadcast on the channel ranging from the future of the cable business to Open Internet and consolidation. 

“You can't ask for a better chairman than Pat Esser,” C-SPAN said in a statement. “He is passionate about C-SPAN's mission and shares that enthusiasm throughout Cox. Over the past two years, he has been readily available with strategic guidance and encouragement as our network navigates a changing marketplace and we are confident we can continue to call on his wise counsel into the future.”

In 2006, Cox was first named in DiversityInc's listing of the Top 50 Companies for Diversity and in 2020, reached its highest ranking at No.11. Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) regularly recognizes Cox among the top operators for women.

"Pat Esser is an industry legend — 15 years of exemplary leadership at the helm of Cox and countless beneficiaries of his dedication to the industry and its DEI efforts,” Maria E. Brennan, WICT President & CEO, said in a statement. “We likewise congratulate Pat’s accomplished successor at Cox, Mark Greatrex, and look forward to continuing our strong partnership with the Cox leadership team."

Facing the same financial challenges as its commercial counterparts, C-SPAN has confirmed that for the first time in its history it is offering buyouts to long-tenured staffers.

"C-SPAN faces the same strategic business challenges that are disrupting for-profit cable networks [who help fund C-SPAN], the decline of traditional video subscribers--C-SPAN's primary source of revenue--and changing media consumption habits," the network said in a statement. "Together, these trends make it necessary for C-SPAN to retool to be leaner and quicker to adapt.

"Regrettably, this evolution includes staff reductions, the most difficult aspect of our belt-tightening measures. With the support and guidance of our board of directors, C-SPAN is working to optimize efficiencies and effectiveness. Our aim is to secure an ongoing role for C-SPAN's unique journalism that serves traditional linear audiences as well as our growing digital audiences."

Also Read: C-SPAN Re-Works Its Monetization Model

Because many of the staffers at the public affairs networks have made a career out of providing access to the workings of government, the pool of eligible staffers topped 100.

A spokesperson would not say how many people have elected to take the buyout--that number has not yet been set--or comment on reports that political editor Steve Scully, who was suspended last fall after making up a story about his Twitter account being hacked, was among those taking the "voluntary separation opportunity."

The spokesperson did say that the final number would be "far fewer" than the overall eligibility pool, and that C-SPAN is also making some strategic hires.

As to Scully's departure, C-SPAN said: "[W]e will not comment on any individual personnel matter except to say that we will certainly miss every colleague who departs as a result of this process."

After watching per-subscriber affiliate fees fall faster than projected, C-SPAN last fall begun moving to an ad-supported — or at least ad-aided — model on its online platforms, which includes social media channels, podcasts and the website.

Also Read: C-SPAN Will Gavel in More History

C-SPAN wasn’t looking to become a for-profit venture, just a nonprofit better able to cover operational costs in a world where it is becoming harder to monetize traditional channels reliant only on dwindling license fees. It’s a tough time for a lot of programmers, but with affiliate fees as its main source of revenue — there are some licensing revenues — C-SPAN was particularly affected.

The Cable Center said Tuesday that its 23rd annual Cable Hall of Fame celebration, slated for Oct. 20, will be held virtually.

“After much thought and consideration, The Cable Center decided that it was best to host our Cable Hall of Fame event virtually at this time,” The Cable Center president and CEO Jana Henthorn said in a press release. “We are eager to gather in spirit with the industry on October 20, and finally have the opportunity to celebrate our honorees.”

The celebration will air on C-SPAN 3 at 8p.m. ET and be available for view simultaneously on C-SPAN.org. The program will also be featured in the C-SPAN Video Library and available for on demand viewing immediately following the event.

The Cable Center had hoped to hold part of the celebration at its regular venue -- The Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City -- allowing those that couldn’t make the trip to participate virtually. Now it appears that the entire offering will be held online. 

The Cable Hall of Fame selected seven industry leaders in March 2020 for this year’s class:  Baker Media CEO Bridget Baker; former Charter Communications EVP IT and Engineering Jim Blackley; Urban One founder and chairwoman Cathy Hughes; TV One chairman and CEO and Urban One CEO Alfred C. Liggins III; Cable Pioneer Jeff Marcus; Comcast Cable president and CEO Dave Watson; and WarnerMedia News & Sports president and president CNN Worldwide Jeff Zucker.

The Bresnan Ethics in Business Award will also be presented to Ted Turner, Environmentalist and Philanthropist, during the Cable Hall of Fame celebration.

“This year has proven that our industry is extremely resilient and creative, and the Cable Hall of Fame will be no different,” Michael Willner, president and CEO of Penthera Partners and chairman of The Cable Center’s Board of Directors, said in a press release. “We have some fun surprises in store as we roll out the red carpet virtually for our honorees and we are thrilled that C-SPAN has agreed to air this engaging celebration. We can’t wait to induct our 2020 class and hope that everyone will support this must-see event by not only viewing but also through our unique sponsorship opportunities.”

The Cable Center is still confirming its plans for 2021 honorees. For more information on the celebration, visit www.cablehalloffame.com.

The story of cable video's demise is overstated, but even given the shift to over-the-top platforms, cable companies equally benefit from that as the country's leading broadband providers.

That was according to a bearded Michael Powell, president of NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, on this week's episode of C-SPAN's Communicators series.

Powell said he had been hearing the cord-cutting narrative for over a decade and cable companies added subs during the pandemic, continue to have sound financial performance, and said that most Wall Street analysts are bullish on the industry's future.

Also Read: NCTA's Powell: Cable Scores with OTT As Well As Traditional Video

On the issue of infrastructure funding, the Biden Administration's planned billions of dollars in broadband buildout subsidies rely heavily on funding municipal broadband, something Powell said may be problematic.

He said it was not accurate to say that broadband operators don't think there are any areas where municipal broadband or local coops aren't part of the solution. But he said the government "would be wise to look carefully at the history of municipal networks and their success rates" given that Powell said the vast majority of those over the last decade have failed. That has been one of the arguments by cable operators for why they backed state legislation limiting muni broadband nets.

He pointed to a Bristol, Virginia, muni fiber network that failed to the tune of $130 million and Provo, Utah, with a failed network that was sold to Google for a dollar but retained $40 million in debt. 

He said that often the projects are built, but then it is the challenging ongoing operational costs that "often make it a poor choice" for deploying broadband.

He said to prioritize such buildouts--as the Biden infrastructure plan appears to do--"fails to diagnose the problem accurately," he said. He said do muni when it makes sense, but added that the majority of successful buildouts are not government run. 

Also Read: NCTA's Powell on Broadband Subsidies: Spend Smart

Powell said the Biden broadband infrastructure plan's goal of future-proofing the networks it is funding is a "respectable instinct." But the key is what that means, suggesting the government's crystal ball may not provide a clear picture. 

The Biden proposal suggests that the definition of "unserved" could include price and competition as well as speed. Powell said "unserved" should mean "no broadband" or "very little" broadband or inadequate, rather than spending to upgrade communities that have adequate broadband.

Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr has stopped short of endorsing acting chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel for the job on a more permanent footing, but signaled her approach to the job--necessitated in part by the fact that it is at a 2-2 political tie until a third Democrat is added--has improved the work product.

Carr was being interviewed for C-SPAN's Communicators series.

"It has been going very well at the FCC the last couple of months [since Rosenworcel took over]," he said. "We have been engaging in good faith compromise. I don't think any one member of the commission has gotten everything they wanted out of every item, but we are compromising and I think our work product has improved because of that."

Also Read: Carr Outlines 5G 'Leadership Maintenance Plan

Asked by host Peter Slen if he would support taking the "acting" off Rosenworcel's title, Carr said he didn't think the endorsement of a Republican commissioner would help, but said "it has been great of her to reach across party lines and compromise" and that he had enjoyed the work they had gotten done together.

Asked about some of his issues with the Biden Administration's billions in broadband subsidies, one of Carr's big problems was that price controls appeared clearly to be on the table. That certainly seemed to be the case with the state-by-state talking points the White House released to make its case for all that broadband subsidy money.

Carr said there was nothing that was going to scare private investment in broadband buildouts more quickly than the the threat of rate regulation. Carr said increased competition was the best way to keep the broadband price trend line going down, which he said it has been doing for a while.

He pointed out that Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has suggested that net neutrality is a way to get at price controls, adding that it has been Big Tech's strategy to use net neutrality "as a stalking horse to try and drive down the prices of the inputs to their services. 

Also Read: Rosenworcel Takes Over FCC Gavel

But he said take rate regs and price controls off the table and there was a lot of common ground on net neutrality and rules could be put in place to put the issue in the rearview mirror. Republicans have supported rules against blocking, throttling and anticompetitive paid prioritization, just not under the Title II common carrier regime that allows for rate regulation.

The Carr Communicators episode airs on C-SPAN Saturday, April 17 at 6:30 p.m. ET, and on C-SPAN2 Monday, April 19, at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET.

Not surprising since former President Trump's impeachment trial is in the Senate, but C-SPAN2, which chronicles proceedings there, will cover the trial live starting Feb. 9 at 1 p.m., then air highlights from the day's events at 9 p.m. ET.

Also Read: Senate Receives Articles of Impeachment

The trial will begin with the opening arguments of the House Republican impeachment managers, followed by the President's defense team.

C-SPAN also aired the House managers' Jan. 25 delivery of the impeachment articles to the Senate. He has already been impeached by the House for a second time--the Senate did not convict--but odds are long that enough Senate Republicans can be swayed to conviction.

The President is being tried for the "high crime and misdemeanor" for inciting the Capitol insurrection that delayed the certification of President Joe Biden's victory in the November election.

Also Read: Trump Video Calls Out Capitol Insurrectionists

The former President has declined to testify at the trial.

C-SPAN will air/stream the Supreme Court oral argument Tuesday (Jan. 19) in FCC v. Prometheus.

That is the FCC's defense of its 2017 broadcast ownership dereg decision.

The argument is scheduled for 10 a.m. 

Also Read: FCC Deregulates Broadcast Ownership

In November 2017, a politically divided FCC voted to eliminate the newspaper-broadcast and the radio-TV cross-ownership rules; allow dual station ownership in markets with fewer than eight independent voices after the duopoly, creating an opportunity for ownership of two of the top four stations in a market on a case-by-case basis (the FCC did not call it a waiver); eliminate attribution of joint sales agreements as ownership; and create an incubator program.

Also Read: Supremes to Hear Broadcast Dereg Case

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals said the FCC had not sufficiently gauged the impact of those deregulatory changes on minority and female ownership, as the court had told the FCC it must do the last time the circuit weighed in on the FCC's long-standing attempts to loosen regs on broadcasters, and blocked all that deregulation.

Had oral argument been scheduled for after the inauguration of Democrat Joe Biden, it is unlikely the government would have pressed its appeal.

Cox CEO Pat Esser has been elected chairman of the board of C-SPAN, the suite of public service networks funded by the cable industry.

That came at C-SPAN's virtual board meeting. "I’m proud to be part of the team of cable operators who financially support and distribute this vital network that gives government visibility to millions of Americans every day," said Esser in a statement.

Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson, who has been executive committee chairman, is vice chairman of the board.

Earlier this year, Watson was elected chairman of the board of NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, succeeding Esser. 

Elected to a two-year term on the C-SPAN board was Vyve Broadband president Phil Spencer. Re-elected to their seats were NCTC president Rich Fickle and Bob Miron, retired chair of Advance/Newhouse.

Also joining the board as senior executive directors are C-SPAN co-CEOs Rob Kennedy and Susan Swain.

The C-SPAN executive committee, the board working group that oversees C-SPAN finances comprises Esser, Watson, Charter CEO Tom Rutledge; Cable One CEO Julie Laulis, and Midco CEO Pat McAdaragh.

C-SPAN is keeping track of the Electoral College votes in the states Monday (Dec. 14). 

A number of states are streaming the proceedings and C-SPAN says it is featuring eight or nine such public votes on its website as well as on the cable network.

A C-SPAN spokesperson said it was looking to provide some insight into the process and made its decision on which state votes to stream/air based on a balanced cross-section of votes of interest as well as its resources, including the number of servers to host the streams.

At press time, Indiana's vote was just wrapping up from the House Chamber in Indianapolis and Delaware was next up in the C-SPAN rotation. That will be followed by coverage of votes in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Texas.

The votes are happening throughout the day, with some streamed and others not.

Other news networks, including CNN, have also been covering the states when the electors are in action.

C-SPAN will also cover President-elect Joe Biden's 8 p.m. speech, at the conclusion of the Electoral College vote, to talk about the results, which are expected to be 306 votes for Biden to 232 for President Trump.

According to C-SPAN, it had already planned an 8 p.m. special program recapping the day's voting with highlights, a host and guest calls, which will now lead off with the Biden speech.

President Trump continues to dispute the election, saying it was "rigged" and "stolen," though not offering evidence to convince any one of multiple courts in which his campaign has filed challenges.

C-SPAN has firmed up its election night coverage plans.

The public affairs suite of networks launched by the cable industry as a public service will provide live coverage from 9 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, through 7 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4.

That coverage, which will include speeches by the winners and losers and coverage of Senate races, will also include viewers calls and reaction.

C-SPAN host and managing producer Greta Brawner and senior executive producer Peter Slen will anchor from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., followed by Bill Scanlon from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m.

Washington Journal will pick up coverage from 7 a.m. through noon.

C-SPAN has started looking to the future of video distribution in earnest as cord-cutting has taken a big bite out of the affiliate fees that support its public-service platforms.

Having recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, the cable public-affairs programmer that blankets Capitol Hill and beyond is looking at how to fund its nonprofit operations for the next 40.

After watching per-subscriber affiliate fees fall faster than projected, C-SPAN has begun moving to an ad-supported — or at least ad-aided — model on its online platforms, which includes social media channels, podcasts and the website.

Peter Kiley, VP of affiliate relations and communications (with an emphasis on the former), has been a major player in that effort, along with national accounts manager Rachel Katz, whose job it is to "optimize” internal revenue, C-SPAN said.

C-SPAN isn’t looking to become a for-profit venture, just a nonprofit looking to better cover operational costs in a world where it is becoming harder to monetize traditional channels reliant only on dwindling license fees. It’s a tough time for a lot of programmers, but with affiliate fees as its main source of revenue — there are some licensing revenues — C-SPAN was particularly affected.

Last December, C-SPAN quietly began putting ads on its YouTube page. “Nobody noticed,” Kiley said. “We didn’t hear a peep because people are so used to it.”

And that page has been delivering eyeballs in recent weeks. During the Sept. 29 presidential debate, C-SPAN’s coverage was the top trending video in the world for a couple of days, C-SPAN said, with almost 1.3 million simultaneous live viewers for the stream. 

Next, it added podcast ads, both preroll and midroll. 

Wading Into a New Stream?

C-SPAN is looking across the board at how to monetize its trusted, no-talking-heads take on such content without impacting the core mission of providing “long-form, unfiltered coverage of events.”

The low-hanging fruits were the YouTube channel and podcasts. C-SPAN has an outside agency to sell the podcast ads. It does not have a big podcast audience, but every little bit of monetization helps.

C-SPAN’s most prominent step, which it took in August, was selling ads on the C-SPAN.org website — but no pop-ups, Kiley hastens to add, because he thinks it is important to be as unobtrusive on the user experience as possible.

C-SPAN is also letting viewers opt out of the ads, all of which Kiley said will be skippable. It will still provide the content for those users with ad blocking enabled, but will be re-evaluating that over time depending on how many people are using the feature. 

“By rolling out limited advertising on our digital platforms, including our YouTube channel, on podcasts and on C-SPAN.org, we are beginning to diversify our revenue streams,” he said. 

There are currently no ads on C-SPAN’s traditional TV channels or C-SPAN Radio, but nothing is off the table, Kiley said, pointing out that the organization is still in the early stages of ad exploration. “It is certainly something that we are talking about,” he said, including whether that would be traditional ads for cars or tennis shoes, or more of a sponsored programming model, as has long been the PBS approach.

C-SPAN is using Google’s ad management platform to handle its new monetization strategy.

Kiley said cable industry support remains strong, but that C-SPAN is facing an unpredictable video future. Unlike nonprofit broadcast TV, which gets about 15% of its funding from the government, C-SPAN gets no such funding and isn’t looking for any. 

Given that more people are not taking the video portion of the cable bundle, C-SPAN is looking to get on the radar, and potentially into the affiliate-fee pockets, of the virtual multichannel video programming distributors.

C-SPAN’s channels, 1, 2 and 3, are currently not carried on YouTube TV or Hulu Plus Live TV, and it has reached out to both. “We would like Google and [Hulu owner] Disney to support C-SPAN’s public service,” he said, acknowledging that they have regular conversations with the streaming platforms but neither so far has agreed to carry the channels.

Google arguably could use the feel-good story of supporting the iconic public-affairs platform given that tech giants are a big target in Washington these days.

Kiley said C-SPAN is still experimenting with ad size and placement, but there are prohibitions on political ads and advocacy campaigns. And while the Google ad platform does use algorithms and targets ads based on browser history, it also allows for C-SPAN to limit the ad categories, and C-SPAN has a lot of restrictions in place, Kiley said. 

There are dozens of categories that can be checked off on the Google ad management back end to exclude ad categories. “We’ve checked a lot of those,” Kiley said.

For example, while a C-SPAN.org user will find ads for Volkswagens or siding, don’t look for ads for sexual aids. The most important exclusion, though, is overt political ads, Kiley said, though they might well be the most lucrative. 

Kiley said the ad effort is helping teach C-SPAN how to use new tools to develop new revenue, but it is not a replacement for the lost subscriber revenue. It probably never will be if the cord-cutting trend continues, which kind of blew C-SPAN’s five-year projections for subscriber losses out of the water.

Given those accelerated fee losses, ads on the YouTube channel and podcasts and website are not an immediate solution, particularly given that C-SPAN is not doing direct sales or using sophisticated ad tech that others use, though it is “putting its toe in the water.”

AVOD Calling

C-SPAN currently has a minimal on-demand presence, but it is starting to look at ad supported video-on-demand (AVOD).

Kiley said while it rarely does AVOD offerings, it has a huge library of about 260,000 hours of content to tap.

He said cable-operator affiliates — the CEOs of Comcast, Cox Communications and Charter Communications all sit on the board — are providing strategic guidance on things like launching free, ad-supported streaming TV services (like Xumo or Pluto) and virtual channels and other new ways of monetizing content, and that C-SPAN is looking to get in on that action.

Twitter was abuzz with the news that C-SPAN political editor Steve Scully has been suspended indefinitely after he conceded he had made up the story about his Twitter account being hacked, though signaled he could eventually return. 

Scully, who was to have moderated the Oct. 15 presidential debate before President Trump backed out was attacked by the President as a "never Trumper."

Related: C-SPAN Says Scully Tweet Was Bogus

A tweet from Scully's account appeared to have been a mistakenly-broadcast direct message asking former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci whether Scully should respond to Trump.

Scully had said the tweet was not his and alleged his account had been hacked. 

C-SPAN had backed the Washington Journal host and 30-year vet Scully, releasing a statement Oct. 9 saying Scully had not originated the tweet and that it believed his account had been hacked. It also said the Commission on Presidential Debates stated that the tweet was not sent by Scully and it was investigating the hack. That trust was apparently misplaced.

"For several weeks, I was subjected to relentless criticism on social media and in conservative news outlets regarding my role as moderator for the second presidential debate, including attacks aimed directly at my family," said Scully in a statement. "This culminated on Thursday, October 8, when I heard President Trump go on national television twice and falsely attack me by name. Out of frustration, I sent a brief tweet addressed to Anthony Scaramucci. The next morning when I saw that this tweet had created a new controversy, I falsely claimed that my Twitter account had been hacked. These were both errors in judgement for which I am totally responsible. I apologize.

"These actions have let down a lot of people, including my colleagues at C-SPAN, where I have worked for the past 30 years, professional colleagues in the media, and the team at the Commission on Presidential Debates. I ask for their forgiveness as I try to move forward in a moment of reflection and disappointment in myself."

C-SPAN was reflecting as well, but signaled there was a return path for Scully. 

"Steve Scully made us and the Commission aware of this new information late Wednesday" (Oct. 14), the network said in a statement. "By not being immediately forthcoming to C-SPAN and the Commission about his tweet, he understands that he made a serious mistake. We were very saddened by this news and do not condone his actions. During his 30 years at C-SPAN, Steve consistently demonstrated his fairness and professionalism as a journalist. He has built a reservoir of goodwill among those he has interviewed, fellow journalists, our viewers, and with us. Starting immediately, we have placed Steve on administrative leave. After some distance from this episode, we believe in his ability to continue to contribute to C-SPAN."

President Donald Trump's twitter attack on C-SPAN's Steve Scully as a "never Trumper" took on new life after a tweet from Scully's Twitter account appeared to seek guidance from Trump's former advisor Steve Scaramucci on whether he should respond to the President's tweet.

C-SPAN said the tweet seeking Scaramucci's advice was not from Scully, but instead the result of a hacked account.

Scully was to moderate the second presidential debate Oct. 15, but Trump pulled out after the Commission on Presidential Debates decided it should be a virtual debate due to the President's COVID-19. Democratic candidate Joe Biden has since said he would participate in an ABC town hall Oct. 15, moderated by George Stephanopoulos.

"Steve Scully, the second Debate Moderator, is a Never Trumper, just like the son of the great Mike Wallace. Fix!!!," the President tweeted. 

That was a reference to Chris Wallace, who moderated the first debate. Trump suggested he was debating both Wallace and Biden after the moderator asked him some tough questions and tried to keep him from talking over the former Vice President.

Trump's tweet came after a tweet from Scully's account Thursday night -- which C-SPAN has since claimed was not from Scully -- that appeared to be a direct tweet to Scaramucci asking him whether Scully should respond to the Trump attack.

"Last night a tweet from Steve Scully, C-SPAN's political editor, appeared on his timeline communicating with Anthony Scaramucci. Steve Scully did not originate the tweet and believes his account has been hacked. The Commission on Presidential Debates has stated publicly that the tweet was not sent by Scully himself and is investigating with the help of authorities."

While the C-SPAN tweet drew many replies, mostly skeptical of the hack claim, Washington Post political columnist Karen Tumulty tweeted praise for Scully's fairness as a journalist.

C-SPAN will televise the Cable Center's 2020 Cable TV Pioneers induction ceremony on C-SPAN3 and stream it at C-SPAN.org, the organizations said.

The 54th annual induction ceremony for the 2020 class of 22 individuals, a mix of CEOs, founders and others who "continue to contribute" to the growth of the cable industry, is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 4, 2020, at 9 p.m.

“While the restrictions of COVID-19 prevent a traditional induction banquet, the pandemic has created a new and unprecedented opportunity to showcase the Induction as a special televised presentation on C-SPAN3,” said Dave Fellows, chair of Cable TV Pioneers. The group said it would provide more information about the induction program soon. 

More: Cable TV Pioneers Says There Will Be a 2020 Class, Ceremony

To be considered for induction, cable executives have to have at least 20 years of "direct involvement" in the cable industry, as well as "demonstrated leadership and progress in their positions" and contributions to the community at large. More about the group is available at cabletvpioneers.com.

Republican Federal Trade commissioner Noah Phillips said the government should not rush into national privacy legislation.

That came in an interview for C-SPAN's Communicators series.

Phillips has repeatedly said to Congress, privacy means different things to different people. For some he said it meant control of their data, for other it was the security of that data. 

He said that before Congress legislates, he wants it to identify the problems it is trying to solve. "When you say we need privacy, why do we need it," he said, before focusing on the questions around remedies, like: "Should we preempt state laws; "should we have a private right of action [so consumers can file civil suits for violations]"; what about penalties."

Related: Senate Commerce to Revisit National Privacy Legislation

He said Congress needs to get that right, but what he sees currently in the legislative process is that they are fighting about those things. He said it should focus more on what it wants the regime to be: "What do we want to be permitted; what do we want to not be permitted; what do we want subject to a consent requirement and do we want that to be opt in our opt out. There are a lot of thorny questions."

Phillips said of Congress that taking its time is important, "rushing it less so."

The commissioner will likely get his wish about no rush to legislation, but in the near term because an election is intervening, as well as the political divide that continues over issues like opt in and opt out and preemption.

Asked about net neutrality--the FCC returned internet service provider privacy oversight to the FTC with its reclassification of ISPs as information service providers--Phillips said the FTC is currently doing a market research study of internet privacy practices for ISPs but that net neutrality remains fundamentally an FCC issue.

The Communicators interview with Phillips airs on C-SPAN Saturday, Sept. 19, at 6:30 p.m. ET and on C-SPAN2 Monday, Sept. 21, at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET.

C-SPAN's Steve Scully has been tapped to moderate the second presidential debate, with Chris Wallace of Fox News hosting the first debate and Kristen Welker of NBC News the third.

That is according to the co-chairs of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which announced the moderators and locations of the upcoming presidential, and vice presidential, debates.

"This is the first time a C-SPAN person has moderated a presidential debate," said a C-SPAN spokesperson. Scully was the backup for all the 2016 debates.

"It is indeed an honor to be asked to moderate one of the three presidential debates of the 2020 campaign," said Scully of his selection. "It is also an important responsibility. In the final weeks of this historic campaign, this unique 'town hall' format will allow the American people to ask questions directly to the debate participants - the candidates vying for our nation's highest office. The questions will come from undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization and from social media. My focus is to effectively facilitate this important conversation between voters and the candidates."

All the debates will air at 9-10:30 p.m. ET without commercials.

Scully, who is senior executive producer and political editor for C-SPAN Networks, will moderate the Oct. 15 debate, which is being held at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami.

The debate will be a town meeting format, with questions posed from South Floridians, with Scully facilitating further discussion after the candidates each have two minutes to respond to the questions from uncommitted voters.

Wallace will host the first presidential debate on Sept. 29 from Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in "Cleveland. The debate will be divided into six segments of about 15 minutes apiece, each on a different major topic selected by Wallace and announced at least a week prior to the event. Wallace will ask the questions and candidates will have two minutes to respond. Wallace will use the remaining time in each segment for "a deeper discussion."

Welker is hosting the third debate Oct. 22 from Belmont University in Nashville. The format will be the same as the first debate.

There will be a single vice presidential debate Oct. 7 from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and moderated by Susan Page of USA Today. The format will be nine segments of about 10 minutes each with each candidate getting two minutes to respond.

“We are grateful to these experienced journalists, who will help ensure that the general election presidential debates continue to serve their unique educational purpose of helping the public learn about the candidates," said co-chairs Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., Dorothy S. Ridings and Kenneth Wollack.

Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) said that a lot of ISPs, "for whatever reason," claim they have service where they don't, something he said everyone knows "has been going on for years." 

Doyle, chairman of the House Communications Subcommittee, was being interviewed for C-SPAN's Communicators series about why the FCC's broadband maps, which rely on carrier data, have not yet gotten fixed. 

Related: House Democrats Update Broadband Deployment, Adoption Plan 

He said that since Democrats and Republicans agree the maps aren't good, the FCC would just be throwing $20 million out the window by starting to give out most of the Rural Development Opportunities Fund (RDOF) subsidy money. 

FCC chairman Ajit Pai argues that delaying those subsidies would mean taking longer to close the digital divide, and that the initial $16 billion is going to areas identified as unserved, while the issues with the maps are about failing to get money to unserved areas because they are identified as served. 

But Doyle said it was mind-boggling that "given the technology and abilities we have today," he didn't know why the FCC did not have accurate maps" to direct the "precious dollars that aren't growing on trees." 

On closing the homework gap, Doyle pledged that any COVID-19 aid package that moves out of the House would include money for schools and libraries. He said there is bipartisan support for boosting distance learning but that the issue comes down to dollars and how to pay for it, which is usually where the bipartisanship breaks down.  

Democrats want to put $9 billion toward closing the homework gap. 

Doyle's Communicators interview airs on C-SPAN Saturday (July 11) at 6:30 p.m. ET, and on C-SPAN2 Monday (July 13) at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET. 

It took a worldwide pandemic, but the U.S. Supreme Court is finally allowing live streaming of oral arguments. It is audio, not video, but still progress, the kind of progress that C-SPAN has been pushing for over three decades.

The suite of public-affairs networks funded by the cable industry will carry the live audio on its TV, audio and digital platforms — that would be C-SPAN, C-SPAN Radio, the C-SPAN Radio App and c-span.org — beginning Monday (May 4).

Appropriately, one of the first-day arguments, U.S. Patent & Trademark Office v. Booking.com, will be one involving the internet: the effort by the online travel site to trademark its website.

That will be one of 10 arguments C-SPAN will be covering this month.

Multichannel News talked to C-SPAN corporate VP and general counsel Bruce Collins about the historic live coverage, which for C-SPAN and Collins, who joined the operation in 1981, has been more than three decades in the making. Here’s an edited transcript.

MCN: How is the court making the live audio available to the public?

Bruce Collins: C-SPAN is one of three news media entities that have a direct feed from the court.

MCN: Who are the other two?

BC: The network pool, currently being run by Fox, and the AP. Frankly, I don’t think they [the Supreme Court is] putting it on their website because they couldn’t handle the traffic. That is why the court called us to see how we were going to distribute it. They were interested in maximum distribution because the network pool is only for the TV people and subscribers — the people who pay.

We told them we would be happy to be a direct link because we would distribute it nationwide and free, and beyond cable television subscribers because we are putting it on our cspan.org website and our free C-SPAN Radio app for download. So, anyone with a cellphone and the app is going to be able to listen to these live.

MCN: Can other news organizations not part of the pool feed just access your link and use it?

BC: I suppose they could because it is basically just public domain information. It’s not like we could stop them.

MCN: How are you going to handle the audio, graphically, on TV?

BC: We have been covering oral arguments starting with Bush v. Gore in 2000, the first time that the court released an audio recording, in this case a couple of hours afterwards.

We did then what we have done many times subsequently, which is to get the pictures of the justices and the pictures of the lawyers and run them whenever they are speaking. Usually just by close listening you can tell who is speaking. Then we use a few explanatory graphics along the way.

MCN: It is audio only, rather than video. Why do you think the court didn’t go ‘full monty,’ as it were, and show themselves?

BC: The answer, of course, is we don’t know. The objections to television go back a long way, as you know. When nominees to the court are asked about televising the court, often in a question prompted by C-SPAN, some of them will say they are not averse to it. Some have had experience with it in the lower federal courts or in state courts and, suddenly, they get on the court and they become silent. You never hear about it again.

MCN: You said the court called C-SPAN. Was that in response to a pitch from you for live audio or video during the current pandemic, given that the court signaled it would do teleconference arguments?

BC: Historically, at least since 1988, we would join with other media organizations to request TV coverage of arguments and it became clear TV wasn’t going to happen. So then we started asking, if not an argument, how about a ceremony, like the investiture of a new justice? And the answer was, ‘No TV, no TV, no TV.’

So in 2000, and we knew audio was available because at the end of every term they send the audio to the National Archives, we had asked for live TV and the breakthrough was the answer: ‘No TV, but we will release the audio two hours after the completion of the [Bush v. Gore] argument.’ Since then, we have asked for either same-day or live audio.

So we didn’t ask them for live TV coverage during the pandemic. We didn’t ask them for anything. We had been turned down so often and C-SPAN and the other media groups had portioned out our requests so we didn’t become a pest. We reserved our requests for same-day or live audio for high-profile cases.

MCN: Do you think they will try to put this genie back in the bottle?

BC: They easily could. The reason they went with live audio, or at least a reasonable explanation, is that the court is required to be open to the public. But under the pandemic, they couldn’t let the public in and they couldn’t let the press in. For the court to be public, they had to release the audio, and they couldn’t very easily release it to only news organizations and say ‘don’t use it live.’

I can see how, come fall, if this is over, they say, ‘We’re not in a pandemic situation. We’ll revert to being a public court, but we don’t need to go live.’

MCN: And if they do that, will C-SPAN be back knocking on the door?

BC: Yes, but we will reserve our requests for cases we believe to be of high public interest.

No big surprise, but President Donald Trump has done the most speaking at the daily COVID-19 briefings. 

Related: The Latest News on How the COVID-19 Crisis Has Affected the Industry

Some Trump critics have complained that the briefings, which often include non-COVID-19 issues, have supplanted the President's rallies, which are on hold during the pandemic. 

[embed]https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1252190363084783617[/embed]

According to an analysis by C-SPAN, which covers the briefings live and in their entirey, Trump had spoken at 39 of the briefings, while Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, was second at 37, Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the COVID-19 task force was third at 35, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was fourth at 33.

C-SPAN has come up with a number of graphic representations of the briefings, which it has tweeted and posted on Facebook.

A federal court has granted a C-SPAN request for live audio of the court's Oct. 23 hearing on the effort to force President Donald to release his financial records (Trump V. Vance), according to Fix the Court. 

The request to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals came in a tag team effort among C-SPAN, FTC, and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP), said FTC's Gabe Roth, all of which support opening up the federal courts to audio and video coverage. 

"The clerk of the court responded to the letter by saying that I should work with C-SPAN on a live audio request since C-SPAN successfully requested live audio for an earlier Trump case back in August," said Roth. "So, I reached out to C-SPAN, asked them to make a live audio request, which they did, and I heard today from them that the request was granted." 

The August case was a previous Second Circuit hearing on Trump's financial records. 

Fix the court also said it will be pushing for live audio of November death penalty arguments in the eleventh Circuit, as well as of the Dec. 12 arguments on the emoluments clause and Trump in the Fourth. That is the constitutional clause that is supposed to prevent federal officeholders from taking gifts, payments or other things of value from foreign governments or their leaders without the express consent of Congress.

Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio), ranking member of the House Communications Subcommittee, said Congress needs to get data privacy legislation passed ASAP.  

"We have to have a uniform standard out there so that people know what is going on," he said in an interview for C-SPAN's Communicators series. Lighting a fire under that effort, he suggested, is the fact that California's tough new privacy law goes into in less than six months. 

He pointed out that after Congress' traditional August recess, there are only about 40 "hard" working days to get legislation done. 

"We are up against that Dec. 31 date," he said. "If we don't get something done," and done right," not only will there be the California law, but other states will start doing the same thing in the absence of national legislation. 

He said that legislation was important for companies so they wouldn't face a patchwork of different standards, but also for consumers so they will know what their rights are. 

Latta was asked by asked by reporter Ashley Gold of The Information about legislation in the context of this week's $5 billion Federal Trade Commission settlement with Facebook, which drew a number of similar comments about the need for general national privacy standards, particularly since the FTC chairman's response to criticism that its fine and conditions were too lenient, said it was the best they could do with limited authority and that Congress needed to step in to give it more authority. 

The FTC is an enforcement agency. In fact, the Facebook fine and conditions mostly had to do with the company not living up to an earlier settlement with the FTC, which is primarily an enforcement agency with limited rulemaking and fining authority.

Latta referred back to when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the House Energy & Commerce Committee. He said Zuckerberg had talked about being optimistic and idealistic when he started the company in a dorm room. Latta said he had written a note to himself on a copy of Zuckerberg's testimony as he listened to it: "But not realistic." 

Latta suggested that realistic now meant transparency, so users know what data is being collected and what it is used for. 

Asked what his "non-negotiables" were in such a bill, Latta said Democrats were currently working on the text of a bill, text he had not seen, and that they needed to have a sit-down on that, but declined to say what he would have to have. 

Latta was asked if Big Tech was too big. Latta said these were companies whose products and services a large number of the American people liked to use. 

He signaled he was ready to rush to "break things up." But he did want the committee to examine the issue, "getting the facts" before deciding whether something needs to be done about Big Tech "in the future." 

The Trump Administration is opening an antitrust investigation into Facebook and other tech giants. Latta said that it is the agency's job to determine if those companies were operating within the laws on the books.  

One argument by Big Tech critics is that they built up anticompetitive monopolies through serial purchases of smaller companies that, individually. did not raise antitrust red flags.  

DOJ antitrust chief Makan Delrahim has said that it is not size that necessarily matters, but how companies used that size.  

The Latta episode of The Communicators airs Saturday, July 27, at 6:30 p.m. on C-SPAN and Monday, July 29, at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. on C-SPAN2.

Former special counsel Robert Mueller made it clear at the outset of his Hill testimony Wednesday (July 24), which was roadblocked across broadcast and cable outlets, that he would continue to let the report on Russian election meddling be his testimony, but that included that the President was not exonerated of the charge of obstruction of justice charge.

Mueller provided swift and sound-bite friendly affirmative answers to questions from Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), and other Democrats, including that exoneration question, as well as ones on whether he committed acts capable of obstructing, was not "exculpated" of the acts he was accused of committing, and could be indicted after he left office.

It was the first of two Democrat-led hearings Wednesday into Mueller's report.

Related: Mueller To Draw Broadcast Crowd

Republicans treated Mueller as a hostile witness, with ranking member Doug Collins (R-Ga.), peppering him with his own questions, but ones that Mueller had to repeatedly ask to be repeated, and Rep. John Ratcliff (R-Tex.) slamming the report, which he said "Democrats and socialists" were doing "dramatic readings" from.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) tried to get short answers, but Mueller said he had to find a citation in one case, or said something was not clear, or asked where Sensenbrenner was reading from, and to repeat the question, or that it was one of those areas he declined to discuss and directed him to the report.

Anchors and commentators had spent the minutes before the first hearing began in the Judiciary Committee, began suggesting the questions they would like answered, though many said they expected Mueller not to answer them.

The hearing began with a heckler being escorted out of the hearing room as Mueller entered.

Nadler, in his opening statement, said the themes were responsibility integrity and accountability, embodied by Mueller, who is a decorated Vietnam War veteran and former FBI director whose investigation of Russian election meddling secured 37 indictments.

He laid out a case of obstruction against the President using findings from the report, which he said brought the committee to the hearing Wednesday (July 24).

He said Congress needed to address the evidence he had uncovered and formally accuse the President of wrongdoing, which begins with the committee. "We will consider all appropriate remedies," giving the clear suggestion that could be a recommendation of impeachment.

Collins pointed out in his opening statement that the President did not shut down the investigation because he knew he was innocent. Russia meddled and the President didn't shut the investigation, and nothing in the hearing will change those facts, he said.

He said the takeaways form the hearing should be that Russia meddled, that the President did not collude in that effort, and that the country should not weaponize its power against private citizens -- in this case, candidate Trump.

But Collins said the hearing was long overdue to the degree that it should bring closure, something it did not appear to be doing at press time.

Screen grab via C-span.org.

When I was a kid, I would regularly sit with my Grandpa Rocco in a cigar-smoke-filled room in Boston and watch the Massachusetts legislature on TV. I had very little idea what the local politicians were talking about, but about every twenty minutes or so Rocco would holler things like "Well then do something, you bums!”

I found those times to be a combination of excruciatingly dull and intermittently riveting. My grandpa, who owned a modest neighborhood deli near our three-family, three-generation house, would use the slow proceedings on the floor as a way to teach me about the fundamentals: taxes and representative government, social justice and, plain as day, televised corruption.

What made it all the more interesting is that Rocco was not technically qualified to teach me these things. He himself had an education that abruptly stopped during seventh grade when an Irish priest made a comment about his Italian roots coupled with a smack to the back of his head. (Rocco, as he told the story, “knocked him out” and refused to return to school ever again.) And yet his articulation of legislative proceedings was seamless. He knew every motion, understood the complexities and protocols of the sessions and could discern the grandstanding from the real discourse that would shape our Boston neighborhood and his business.

And he had used the TV to learn all of it.

The then-new concept of “gavel-to-gavel” televised government, pioneered by C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb and some cable-industry cowboys, was being played out across the country and across the economic/geopolitical spectrum.

Thanks to the launch of C-SPAN, and various local governments following suit, people now had something unprecedented in all of human history: easy access to the debates and policy-making affecting their neighborhoods, cities, states, country and world.

It was, on the surface, a simple innovation, but in practice it was revolutionary. It was genius.

But Brian Lamb's genius didn't stop there. He did something that meant all the difference in the world: He found a model to keep advertising out of it (with support through fees from cable and satellite providers).

He knew that the substance of C-SPAN would get decimated in the typical ad- and ratings-supported models. (Ads and ratings are not friends of a fully educated electorate because the aims of capitalism are to make money, not to keep people informed. News may be in the business of informing and entertaining, but it is also in the business of pleasing its clients so the money keeps coming. This tension leads, of course, to sound-bite journalism and favoring the emotion-provoking over everything else.)

Likewise, Lamb (co-author of a new C-SPAN book on The Presidents) knew that if C-SPAN was subsidized by the government, it would be beholden to the political majority or used as a political football and leverage point.

As a cable news reporter, Lamb saw that local cable operators were frequently in complex negotiations with local officials to run lines, dig up streets and build out what would become the data spine of the United States. They also needed more content, cheap, and they needed to offer these local municipalities something more than just a plan to come in and make money.

Lamb found the niche between business and government to create a system that would help people. C-SPAN gave cable operators and local governments the ability to do something simple that helped people stay informed, for less than a nickel per household per month. And to everyone's credit at C-SPAN and the cable industry at large, that fee structure has continued long after cable operators gave up the local monopolies.

As John Eggerton recently wrote, C-SPAN is able to draw bipartisan praise in the Congress — something not easy these days.

Lamb gave a long interview to The Wall Street Journal where he announced he would stop doing his weekly interview program, Q&A, after 30-plus years on May 19 with a show featuring historian David McCullough. While much of the media was quick to wrongly conflate Lamb’s ending of his decades-long weekly interview show with his career send-off, those who know him probably had a good laugh at the idea of his “retirement.” He will likely never stop working. It’s a pretty safe bet that he will still be there to turn on the lights in the morning, chuckle his way through the hallways, and provide sage advice and a warm ear to people of all ranks.

So many people in the cable industry know Brian’s humble ways. He is quick to deflect any personal credit for improving democracy, for inspiring a movement toward open government, for transforming so many TV viewers — like Grandpa Rocco — into civically-minded citizens.

When put on the spot about his achievements, Lamb always points to all the cable operators who went out on a limb, who took private-sector money and put it to use for the common good. He also always points to the incredible work of his executive team and the hundreds of amazing people who work tirelessly on C-SPAN’s important mission.

He is also quick to remind everyone who praises his accomplishments that the battle for the life of C-SPAN will never stop. That open government is not a given, and that one day this could all go away unless the private sector continues to invest in what is good for everyone.

I guess when you dedicate your career to the betterment of society, the mission is never quite complete and the praise can be hard to accept because it misses the point: It’s not about him and never has been.

Jason Damata, the founder and CEO of Fabric Media and an industry analyst for TV[R]EV, worked at C-SPAN from 2001-2005.

Democrats and Republicans may be divided over the Mueller report and health care and immigration and climate change and campaign finance and, well, you get the idea. But one thing they can agree on is that C-SPAN is something of a national treasure.

That point was made clear in a bipartisan anniversary celebration on the House floor Tuesday (March 26) from both Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

C-SPAN, the public service suite of networks funded by cable companies, is celebrating its 40th anniversary—it launched with House coverage—of unfiltered coverage.

Speaker Pelosi, who noted it was also her birthday, celebrated C-SPAN's birthday with warm words of praise for what she said was its "enduring contributions to the public debate and to our American democracy."

She said the founders had envisioned a transparent and accountable People's House and that she "rose to honor an institution that powerfully honors that legacy." She said it ensured their sessions could be a national town hall.

Pelosi praised its unblinking eye trained on Congress and the campaign trail, "presidents and parliaments and so much more. She called it a pillar of public discourse and a beacon of unbiased reporting." Pointing out that the channel's founder had never mentioned his own name on air, she did not follow suit. "Thank you Brian Lamb for your service to our democracy," she said, to applause from the gallery. She even led a cheer for the C-SPAN bus, the mobile civics education effort.

McCarthy called the anniversary a "milestone in open and accessible government" and C-SPAN an irreplaceable tool in accomplishing James Madison's vision of representative government as refining and enlarging "the public view of the common good."

McCarthy said the rise of the internet and new media "has only reinforced the need for C-SPAN's unfiltered coverage and unbiased programming."

"Now, more than ever, people must be able to form their own opinions. They need objective coverage, access to balanced analysis and the opportunity to debate their views with others of good faith. C-SPAN does just that."

Huawei continues to try to head off the momentum for banishing its tech product from U.S. 5G networks.

In a filing at the FCC, the Chinese tech company said the government's "overriding" telecom policy goal should be to get mobile broadband to as many consumers as possible as quickly as possible in the race to 5G, whose benefits will accrue "regardless of who manufactures the network equipment."

U.S. intelligence agencies have collectively told Congress they are concerned about Chinese tech in U.S. systems due to the companies alleged cozy relationship with the Chinese government, which is the U.S.'s chief competitor in the race to 5G. Huawei president Ren Zhengfei said his company does not spy or provide technological back doors to its products.

Congress responded by adding a phase-out of Huawei tech in government contracts to the Defense Authorization Act.

But Huawei earlier this month challenged that restriction in a Texas district court (Huawei Technologies USA is based in Texas).

Separately the FCC is considering its own limitations on Huawei, potentially denying networks with Huawei tech access to broadband subsidy money, which has prompted the Huawei pushback.

"Huawei is ready to help build real 5G network in the U.S., through real competition," the company told the FCC. "As it has stated in previous comments in this docket, Huawei recognizes that supply chain security in the face of a wide range of potential threats is and should be a high priority throughout the U.S. Government. But, as Huawei has also demonstrated in its comments, all equipment used by U.S. telecommunications carriers is potentially vulnerable to threats from multiple vectors. To be perfectly clear, Huawei is not claiming that its equipment is immune to potential vulnerabilities. But there is not, and never has been, any evidence that Huawei has engaged in or abetted any deliberate weakening of security or any effort at eavesdropping or penetration of U.S. (or any other) networks."

Related: T-Mobile's Legere: No Huawei Tech Going in 5G Net, Period

As for the FCC effort to limit its tech, the company was talking tough:

"While Huawei has been working with other governments in deploying most advanced and increasingly secure networks, the FCC has yet to take any useful action. A policy that seeks to exclude particular equipment from the market based on the identity of its manufacturer is both futile, because even the most “trusted” manufacturer may have vulnerabilities, and counterproductive, because it could prevent Americans from receiving the widely-anticipated benefits of 5G deployment," it said.  

FCC chair Ajit Pai back in March 2018 proposed to ban the use of money from the FCC's Universal Service Fund for equipment or services from "companies that pose a national security threat to United States communications networks or the communications supply chain."

The FCC proposal in part stemmed from a Dec. 20 letter from Congress expressing concerns about Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE, plus a follow-up intelligence briefing, both of which were described as impetuses to the effort to monitor the supply chain, senior FCC officials speaking on background said.

The technology includes everything from phones, tablets and smart watches to mobile hot spots, broadband routers, switchers and servers.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Security subcommittee, was asked in an interview for C-SPAN's Communicators series last week whether he would use a Huawei phone. He said he would be hesitant to use a Huawei manufactured device. He said there was clearly a "close working relationship" between Chinese private sector companies and the Chinese government and army. 

The C-band helps put the "C" in C-SPAN.

The cable-backed public affairs network made that point in comments on the FCC's proposal to share that band.

The FCC in July voted unanimously to find ways to open up the C-band spectrum (3.7-4.2 Ghz) for terrestrial wireless use, either all of the 500 Mhz or some portion of it, and through either an incentive or capacity auctions, a market mechanism where incumbents voluntarily strike deals to reduce their footprint, or some other means. The vote was on a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), with a final order vote pending the fCC's consideration of the sort of comments C-SPAN and others are filing.

The C-band is currently used for satellite delivery of cable and broadcast network programming to TV and radio stations and cable head-ends. The FCC wants to open it up to wireless broadband to help close the digital divide and promote 5G, both prime directives for the commission.Broadcast and cable groups have cautioned the FCC to slow down a bit and consider the impact of sharing the band on what is essentially the distribution backbone for their respective video services. Both want the FCC to consider whether the band can be shared at all given the potential for interference, particularly if the FCC wants dynamic sharing. C-SPAN, in comments on that proposal (final comments were being filed this week), counted the ways that  its C-band home should be protected.C-SPAN said that the C-band is "essential" to its operations, that fiber is not an "equivalent" alternative (not available everywhere, it points out) that discount KU-band sattellite service is not an acceptable subsititute either (it cites historic rain-fade issues), and anything less than "full-band, full 'arc" protection for satellite earth stations, like allowing fixed point-to-multipoint (P2MP) services in the band, should be a nonstarter. C-SPAN says having to work around P2MP services would undermine the nationwide reach the service depends on.The C-band also is a backup for delivering the audio of WCSP-FM to SiriusXM and for delivering and recording its networks at the C-SPAN Video Library in Indiana

C-SPAN's board of directors has tapped Comcast Cable President Dave Watson for a second term as chairman of the executive committee. The committee sets stategy and oversees finances for the public affairs network funded as a public service by the cable industry.

Cable One President Julie Laulis and WOW! CEO Teresa Elder have been elected to full two-year terms. Both had joined the call earlier this year. Laulis is also a trustee of the C-SPAN Education Foundation.

Rich Fickle, president of NCTC, and Jeffrey DeMond, president of Vyve Broadband, were re-elected to serve two-year terms on the board.

John Evans, chairman of Evans Telecommications, was elected to another three-year term as a senior director. He has been on the board since C-SPAN's founding in 1978.

The Senate hearing with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, got plenty of TV coverage — it was roadblocked across most cable news and network-affiliated TV-station outlets — just not quite as much TV coverage as C-SPAN had wanted.

Viewers may have noticed that shots of Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) were always slightly side shots rather than full-on faces.

While the Senate Judiciary Committee suggested C-SPAN would have four cameras in the hearing room — the cable-backed public affairs net was providing the TV pool feed for the commercial broadcast and cable networks — that did not prove to be the case.

In providing TV coverage of Hill hearings, C-SPAN usually has three cameras, one on either side to get the Democrats and the Republicans, then one in the front to capture the witnesses. But it sometimes uses a fourth camera in the back of the room to get a wide shot and a straight-on view of the chairman and ranking members, who are in the center. A C-SPAN source said it has used that fourth camera many times.

In an email outlining the video coverage, the committee said:

“The room already has three robocameras built in for the purposes of streaming the hearing online. This feed cannot be used to pool for media outlets. Typically, C-SPAN sets up three cameras in the room to serve as the TV pool feed. … For this hearing, C-SPAN has asked for a fourth camera. That equals seven total video cameras. For context, during the first four days of Judge Kavanaugh’s hearing, the room had a minimum of 28 video cameras in it.”

That clearly sounds to The Wire like someone at the committee thought C-SPAN would be granted that camera, since it used the seven-camera figure for comparison purposes.

C-SPAN confirmed it asked for that fourth camera to get the straight-on wide shot, but said that request was denied, with no reason given. The C-SPAN source said it could have been space limitations.

A Senate Judiciary Committee spokesperson had not returned a request for comment at press time about the missing camera and the reason why it was denied.

Comcast Cable CEO Dave Watson has been named chairman of the C-SPAN board's executive committee.

That came at C-SPAN's board meeting in New York.

Watson joined the board earlier this year, succeeding Comcast CEO Neil Smit after he stepped down.

Also joining the board of the public service networks funded by the cable industry were Dexter Goei, president of Altice N.V and chair/CEO of Altice USA, and Wide Open West CEO Steven Cochran.

Elected to additional two-year terms were board members Pat McAdaragh, president of Midco; and Alan Block, chair of Block Communications.

The executive committee can be empowered to set strategy and over see finances on behalf of the 15-member board.

A majority of Americans (76%) say the Supreme Court should allow its oral arguments to be on TV.

That is according to a new study from C-SPAN, the suite of public service networks funded by the cable industry, in conjunction with strategic communications company PSB.

Not only did the survey respondents want TV in the courtroom, but 70% said that was where they were getting their news about the court. School was only named by 4% and books by only 3%.

The study found that the public recognized the importance of the Court's decisions. Nine out of 10 voters said those decisions impact their lives and 82% said the makeup of the Court was an important issue in their vote in the 2016 presidential election.

TV may want to name the Justices more frequently, though, if that is where most are getting their news about the court.

Fewer than half (43%) could name any of those Justices, only 1% could name Sonia Sotomayor, Anthony Kennedy or Elena Kagan, and none could name Stephen Breyer.

The study was conducted March 7-9 among 1,032 likely voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.05 percentage points.

The study was timed to Sunshine Week (March 12-18), which celebrates access to public information, and as Congress prepares to vet Neil Gorsuch March 20 (C-SPAN will cover the hearing), President Donald Trump's pick to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia, who was opposed to cameras.

The study also comes as a bill to allow cameras in federal courts, including the Supreme Court, has been reintroduced.

As part of its recognition of Sunshine Week, C-SPAN has posted a video on YouTube with the Justices' historic views on cameras.

C-SPAN has long pushed for cameras in the court, pointing to its successful coverage of the House and Senate — now generally acknowledged to be an invaluable tool for civic engagement with, and understanding of, the legislature.

The Wire was monitoring that indispensable cable-provided public service outlet, C-SPAN, when Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) came to the witness table to testify against Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a fellow member of the Judiciary Committee and Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general.

One senator testifying against another at a nomination hearing is almost unheard of. Booker conceded it was an “exceptional” move, but said he had to put the country and his conscience above senatorial tradition.

While he began his testimony by acknowledging he had worked collegially, and with mutual respect, with Sessions on legislation, the thrust of his testimony was the following:

“Senator Sessions has not demonstrated a commitment to a central requirement of the job – to aggressively pursue the congressional mandate of civil rights, equal rights and justice for all. In fact, at numerous times in his career, he has demonstrated a hostility toward these convictions and has worked to frustrate attempts to advance these ideals,” he said. But there was more.

“If confirmed, Senator Sessions will be required to pursue justice for women, but his record indicates that he won’t.

“He will be expected to defend the equal rights of gay and lesbian Americans, but his record indicates that he won’t.

“He will be expected to defend voting rights, but his record indicates that he won’t.

“He will be expected to defend the rights of immigrants and affirm their human dignity, but his record indicates he won’t.

“His record indicates that as attorney general he would obstruct the growing national bipartisan movement toward criminal justice reform.”

The Wire’s assessment: Hardly an endorsement.

Having gotten C-SPAN’s unfiltered view of the testimony, imagine our surprise when President-elect Trump’s transition team emailed a glowing press release under the headline: “What They Are Saying: U.S. Sen. Schumer and Top Democrats Praise U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions,” and leading with this: “Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ): ‘Blessed And Honored to Have Partnered With Senator Sessions’ in Passing Legislation That Awarded 1965 Voting Rights Marches Foot Soldiers With the Congressional Gold Medal.” But the release conveniently omitted the “thrust” of the testimony.

It reminded us of those dot-dot-dot movie reviews, like: “I wish I could … see … it again,” when the review was: “I wish I could have left the theater after the opening credits. I hope I never see it or its like again.”

The Wire asked Booker’s office for any comment on the Trump team’s selective take on the senator’s testimony. A staffer suggested it spoke for itself. Well, at least on C-SPAN it did.

CES 2017: This Is Not The Android TV Box You’re Looking For

CES, the annual gadget-fest in Las Vegas, typically borders on the surreal and the real when it comes to the consumer products that are on display on the floor. While many are products that will come to retail this year, others are better placed in the wishful thinking category.

Such was the case again this month when, at CES, multiple news outlets stumbled on and reported about an Android TV-powered device supposedly branded by Disney. Word was that The Mouse was on the cusp of launching a customized, kid-friendly $99 OTT box, called Kids TV, that would come pre-packed with exclusive Disney content.

Or not.

According to an official for SnakeByte, a maker of gaming accessories that had the device on display, the box reported on was merely a “speculative prototype” being demonstrated as the company looked to enter exploratory talks about obtaining a license from Disney for some EMEA territories.

But it was likewise strange that the reports talked up specific details like pricing and product launch timing, with one report noting that a Disney-branded tablet was also in the works.

The Wire (which failed to be snake-bitten, at least not this time) hears that those news outlets were apparently given some not-ready-for-primetime info from an overly exuberant person at the SnakeByte booth.

— Jeff Baumgartner

C-SPAN, the public service platforms funded and supported by the cable industry, will provide live gavel-to-gavel coverage of a lot of gavels this week as Congress holds confirmation hearing sessions (a couple are two-day affairs) on a host of Donald Trump's nominees for top administration posts.

A spokesperson for the Senate Small Business Committee said that at press time there was no date yet for the confirmation hearing of Small Business Administration nominee Linda McMahon (http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/washington/trump-taps-wwes-linda-m...), co-founder and former CEO of WWE, the TV wrestling empire.

The President-elect has yet to announce nominees for the chairmanship of the FCC. If past is prologue that may not come until after the election, with an interim chair, likely senior commission Republican Ajit Pai, tapped from sitting commissioners in the interim, particularly since that agency will be 2-1 Republican as of Jan. 20.

For political junkies and others, here is the lineup for C-SPAN coverage of the nominees getting vetted on the Hill this week:

Tuesday (Jan. 10)

9:30 a.m. Senate Judiciary: Sen. Jeff Sessions, Attorney General (Day 1). Live on C-SPAN3, C-SPAN Radio and C-SPAN.org.

3:30p-7:30 p.m. Senate Homeland Security: John Kelly, Homeland Security Secretary. Live on C-SPAN.org.

Wednesday (Jan. 11)

9:15 a.m.-4 p.m. Senate Foreign Relations: Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State (Day 1). Live on C-SPAN3, C-SPAN Radio and C-SPAN.org.

9:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Senate Judiciary: Sen. Jeff Sessions, Attorney General (Day 2). Live on C-SPAN.org.

10 a.m.-1 p.m. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions: Betsy DeVos, Education Secretary. Live on C-SPAN.org.

10 a.m.-1 p.m. Senate Intelligence: Rep. Mike Pompeo, CIA Director. Live on C-SPAN.org.

10:15 a.m.-1 p.m. Senate Commerce: Elaine Chao, Transportation Secretary. Live on C-SPAN.org.

Thursday
9:30a.m.-1:30 p.m. Senate Armed Services: James Mattis, Defense Secretary. Live on C-SPAN3, C-SPAN Radio and C-SPAN.org.

10 a.m.-1 p.m. Senate Commerce: Wilbur Ross, Commerce Secretary. Live on C-SPAN.org.

10 a.m.-1 p.m. Senate Banking: Ben Carson, Housing & Urban Development Secretary. Live on C-SPAN.org.

C-SPAN has secured "special access" to the Senate floor for a 90-minute feature on the role of the Senate in society, as well as its history and traditions.

There will be an accompanying and "robust" education effort as well.

The Senate had to pass a resolution--it did so Dec. 9--allowing the access to the chamber and other sites. C-SPAN also had to sign a memorandum of understanding with the majority and minority leaders of the new Senate.

"The United States Senate," which will debut in the spring, will be executive produced by Mark Farkas (C-SPAN's "The Capitol" as well as series about First Ladies, the Supreme Court, and the White House).

C-SPAN’s multiplatform  networks are a public service funded by cable companies.