C-SPAN

C-SPAN covers floor proceedings of the House of Representatives

Underpinning this impartial, balanced coverage is the fact that no government or taxpayer dollars support C-SPAN, as we continue to be funded as a public service from your cable or satellite provider.

C-SPAN began with only four employees: Brian Lamb, Jana Dabrowski Fay, Don Houle and Brian Lockman. Those four transmitted the first television feed from the U.S. House of Representatives to C-SPAN viewers on March 19, 1979, the first day the House allowed television coverage of its floor debates. That televised congressional session began with a one-minute speech by then-Congressman Al Gore and reached just 3 million American cable and satellite homes.

For C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb and the nascent network's cable system affiliates that provide its funding, the televised House feed was only the beginning. C-SPAN added what became its signature call-in programs the following year to provide a direct conduit between the American public and the nation's political leaders. That direct viewer-to-leader dialogue and discussion of current events continues each day on Washington Journal.

In 1982, the network expanded from eight to 16, and then 24 hours, enabling it to add a wider variety of public affairs programming to viewers while maintaining its commitment to carry the proceedings of the U.S. House, live and gavel-to-gavel.