C-SPAN, you’re about to be destroyed.
I happened across a collection of some 11 appearances I made on C-SPAN some time ago.
C-SPAN was a remarkable cable network. It’s STILL a remarkable chain of television channels upon reflection.
C-SPAN survived Big Tech censorship – the way the man who invented it set it up. That’s a mighty achievement. Don’t you think? (Don’t answer until you stay with this column to the end – and watch a short video of one of my 11 nostalgic appearances on C-SPAN in 2014.) Just note that I haven’t made any broadcast appearances since I suffered a series of strokes in 2018 and 2019.
Brian Lamb was the genius who created C-SPAN. Lamb, now retired, was an American journalist in the best sense of the word. He founded it as an American cable network that provides coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate as well as other public affairs events. For this, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush and received the National Humanities Medal the following year. Unlike many journalists, he also served as a commissioned officer in the United States Navy for four years.
He also conducted thousands of interviews, including those on C-SPAN’s “Booknotes” and “Q&A,” where he was known for his unique interview style that focused on short, direct questions.
But, alas, the days of “objective” and “unbiased” TV, heretofore since 1979 broadcast on C-SPAN, could be coming to an end.
C-SPAN began as a nonprofit consortium of cable-TV operators. Then it began carrying gavel-to-gavel coverage of the House of Representatives. Seven years later, it added Senate proceedings.
Revenue came, as it does today, primarily from a share of monthly fees: roughly 6 cents from each connected home. In the mid-’90s, DirecTV and other satellite competitors started carrying the channels for the same per-customer fee.
Now C-SPAN faces two distinct obstacles: reach and revenue. “Cord-cutting,” the shift away from cable and satellite by individual consumers, has reduced C-SPAN’s distribution through those outlets to roughly 70 million homes from about 100 million in 2014. With 98% of its revenue tied directly to these markets, C-SPAN’s annual take has fallen by about $20 million.
What can be done? In addition to selling coffee mugs and T-shirts, C-SPAN runs ads on its website, mobile app and its own YouTube channel. The primary feeds on cable and satellite, however, remain ad-free.
But now management is also desperately seeking deals with streaming services such as Hulu Live, operated by Disney, and YouTube TV, owned by Google, which would add several million dollars in revenue. These partners all combine something that will absolutely change the character of C-SPAN forever.
Does management of C-SPAN think it’s a good idea to take on a bunch of “woke” corporations plus the devil incarnate of Google and YouTube, thus transforming an institution with principles? If Google would try to destroy WND, to demonetize it, to all but deplatform one of the largest independent entities on the internet, even a producer of best-selling books and videos, why not corrupt the innocent C-SPAN? It would take roughly a flat minute.
It’s inevitable. The end is near. Take it to the bank. Big Tech, the enemy of free expression, is nigh. Brian Lamb’s once vivid dreams have become near-death experiences.
Big Tech is closing the deal on corrupting C-SPAN. I saw what they did with strictly “independent” WND when Google and YouTube controlled the lion’s share of money. For those who did not listen to me when Big Tech and smaller “woke” corporations began their push for WND’s extinction, I have two words of warning: It’s coming. Bribery does not take long – when the dominos are falling fast.
WND is now on Trump’s Truth Social! Follow us @WNDNews
This is a major story that should be known to everyone. It has not been told by the “fake news” media. As far as I know, I am breaking this news for the first time.
I saw how long it took for even Donald J. Trump, America’s greatest president, to fully appreciate the inherent dangers of the once “free press,” the “deep state,” Big Tech and so many other existential problems the U.S. faces. Things are bad enough now with NPR still on the planet. How would you like to see C-SPAN join Google as a partner?
Click image to watch interview:
It seems as though C-SPAN will be totally gone before Trump can save it, redeem it, pay homage to Brian Lamb. It could happen before the 2024 election.
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