YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV finally agree to carry C-SPAN

After years of being noticeably absent from its channel lineups, YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV will begin carrying C-SPAN networks in the fall of 2025.

The deals call for C-SPAN, C-SPAN2 and C-SPAN3 to all be added to each services’ base packages, giving the 13.8 million combined subscribers of the two virtual multichannel video programming distributors access to live coverage of the U.S. Senate and House as well as a mix of other public affairs programming.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

C-SPAN operations are funded, however, by fees TV providers pay to the organization, similar to how they pay for other networks and streams. In general, however, the amount paid per subscriber is thought to be significantly less than many major networks get.

The networks have never been featured on YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV even though they have traditionally been part of even lower-tier legacy cable and satellite packages.

It’s not clear why YouTube TV and Hulu never opted to offer the networks or what may have triggered the change in direction.

vMVPDs, including YouTube TV and Hulu, have been criticized over their status as being exempt from many regulations that their cable and satellite rivals are, particularly in regard to retransmission. vMVPDs are also except from certain franchise fee and taxes because they do not directly own a physical infrastructure within the public right of way.

Virtual providers are typically priced lower than legacy providers, in part because they do not have to build and maintain local infrastructure, satellites and corresponding equipment needed for many video services. To be appealing, pricing also needs to take into account that consumers still need to subscribe to some type of broadband service to watch vMVPDs.

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Opponents of vMVPD exemptions often argue that the providers are, in many ways, operating in much the same way as legacy providers. However, supporters say that because streaming video travels over existing infrastructure, that, in most cases, consumers have already paid for separately, the same rules should not apply.

Critics of vMVPDs and their various exemptions have long pointed to major providers such as YouTube TV and Hulu opting not to carry various public service or access channels, including C-SPAN’s, as another slight between the two types of operators. Some argue that vMVPDs’ are funneling away important funding from C-SPAN, which receives no federal funding.

On the whole, virtual MVPDs have been seen as a promising way to keep services that mirror legacy providers and linear TV in general alive even as cord-cutting causes cable and satellite companies to lose millions of subscribers in recent years. 

As legacy MVPD providers shed customers, this could been seen as a threat to C-SPAN’s funding, though details about how it may have responded to these types of shifts in terms of its financial arrangements with providers are not clear.