Ready for Prime Time

Despite all the attention given to the inauguration of live television broadcasting of U.S. Senate sessions from the Capitol in Washington, a large number of Southern California cable-system subscribers will not have a chance to tune in the Senate chamber. The historic first televised session was broadcast Monday by C-SPAN, the Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network, on its primary channel already carried into millions of American homes. But henceforth the Senate will be seen only on C-SPAN II, a second channel created to handle the upper chamber’s meetings. Sessions of the U.S. House of Representatives will continue on C-SPAN I.

The main C-SPAN channel is available to local cable systems at a cost of 4 cents per subscriber per month. C-SPAN is offering the Senate sessions at no extra charge to cable systems, but some cable operators are reluctant to tie up a second channel to air Senate proceedings. Some systems claim that they have no unused channels available and would have to discontinue current programming to make room for the Senate sessions. That is a dubious excuse, considering the expendable nature of some marginal cable fare when weighed against the public service of airing the Senate’s deliberations.

C-SPAN, a nonprofit cooperative, has generated a considerable following by broadcasting U.S. House sessions for the past seven years along with its other excellent programming, which includes lively and informative interviews with public figures and call-in shows. The addition of the second channel will enhance C-SPAN’s ability to serve as a conduit for participatory democracy in the best sense of the word.

The Senate is quite a different place than the House. The Senate more often is the focal point for major debate, particularly on issues of foreign affairs and national security. While some may consider the Senate’s more protracted debates to be boring, they often give the listener or viewer a much broader and deeper understanding of the issues that are facing America today. Cable systems that refuse to make the Senate sessions available are cheating their subscribers and failing to live up to the responsibilities of their exclusive franchises.

When they apply for their public franchises, cable operators invariably emphasize the public service that they can provide to the citizenry. They can do precisely that by airing the Senate on C-SPAN II promptly.