They say that sunlight is the best disinfectant, and thanks to a pair of recent carriage deals, cable TV’s best provider of much-needed rays will be able to shine its light even brighter than before. After years of lobbying, the public affairs television network C-SPAN has inked multi-year deals for both Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV to carry all three of the brand’s channels, the flagship C-SPAN, [C-SPAN 2][cspan 2], and C-SPAN 3. Additionally, C-SPAN and the main YouTube platform will broaden their existing partnership with the streamer sponsoring C-SPAN’s “America 250” celebrations. While it took over three months from when the deals were first announced in September, both live TV streaming services have added the trio of public affairs channels to their lineups.

As more and more Americans move away from the traditional cable and satellite bundles, C-SPAN has fought hard to remain viable in the streaming world. Founded in 1979 by the cable television industry, C-SPAN is a nonprofit organization that is primarily funded through carriage deals with cable, satellite, and increasingly live TV streaming carriage fees. As the two largest live TV streaming services in the United States, C-SPAN has been working on joining the channel offerings from Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV for years.

YouTube TV officially added the C-SPAN networks to its channel offerings on Thursday, Dec. 4, and Hulu + Live TV followed suit a week later. C-SPAN has been working on being added to the services since at least 2022. Until these announcements, DIRECTV was the only live streaming service that carried the channels. In recent years, C-SPAN’s operating budget has shrunk from $70 million annually to below $50 million, as cable contraction took hold. But by making these deals, C-SPAN should benefit from the growing streaming audience.

“We are proud that this agreement will give millions more Americans access to our unfiltered coverage of the nation’s political process,” C-SPAN CEO Sam Feist said. “For nearly fifty years, CSPAN via its cable and satellite partners has been dedicated to making government accessible and accountable to the people. This agreement with Hulu reflects our long-standing mission is essential to our society and our democracy.”

Earlier this year, Representative Mike Flood (R-NE) began advocating for Hulu and YouTube to join DIRECTV in carrying the C-SPAN channels. When DIRECTV launched its MyNews Genre Pack this spring, two of the early additions to the skinny bundle news lineup where C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2.

In addition to the live TV streaming aspect of C-SPAN’s deal with YouTube, the two are also set to expand their partnership. YouTube will sponsor the network’s coverage of the U.S.’s semiquincentennial in 2026, and will invest in the optimization of C-SPAN’s presence on YouTube. Since C-SPAN operates without any government funding and with nearly no commercial sponsors, the carriage fees from Hulu and YouTube will be a major boon for the network. YouTube TV is believed to have over 9.4 million subscribers, while as of its last reporting, Hulu + Live TV had 4.3 million customers.

“C-SPAN has long been a vital resource for civic engagement, and we look forward to partnering with them to both expand their footprint on YouTube and to celebrate America 250 together,” YouTube’s chief business officer Mary Ellen Coe said. “Through this partnership, Americans will have access to content that showcases the creators and entrepreneurs who are shaping the future, explores American pastimes and music, and takes a look back at the key historical moments that shaped our nation.”

C-SPAN is known for its gavel-to-gavel coverage of congressional hearings, unfiltered access to government proceedings, and viewer call-in shows. Now, as the TV industry evolves, an increasing number of Americans will be able to have access to this invaluable content.