today, a fast reliable interconnects -- internet

connection is something that people can't live without. no than ever it all starts with great internet. wow! >{ wow supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> susan swain, c-span's co-ceo, 45 years marking this year. why is this important? >> we have seen a lot of media go under in the past decade and if c-span is around 45 providina service some find valuable and what we have tried to do over the last decades is to build an institution people can trust, that they will see the whole story, and we have the interest of showing the political process as it occurs without bias, without our interpretation, so

people can go back and find what public offia think about it. that is what c-span is all about and the fact we are around at 45 means people have understood the role it plays in the niche in american media. >> let's remind our viewers how we started. >> march 19, 1 the gavel came down in the house of representatives and speaker of the house gaveled in the first televised session of the house. >> the house will be in order. nessee. >> [indiscernible] -- one minute, mr. speaker. >> without objection. >> mr. speaker, on this historic day, the house of representatives opens is proceeding for thest courage. i wish to congratulate you for making this possible and the committee who has worked so hard

under the leadership of the congressman to make this a reality. television will change this institution, mr. speaker, just as it has changed the executive ranch come up at the goodwill far outweigh the bad. >> two years before hand private entrepreneurs in the cable industry h b day and built the t satellite in the d.c. area to transmit that session to the american public. it started a revolution, televised access to the process and lots of people are far ofington in 1979 this was a real use of technology for the public good and there had been >> this year for the first time for our anniversary we are celebrating it by calling it a

founder's day here dwight is ? what does that mean? >> well, the reality of any media organization today anyone wa knows their media consumption habits have changed hermetically in the standard of 100 million homes having cable television wired and they■ subss changed enormously over the past 78 years. we have lost about 40% of the homes that carry cable and carried our gnal to them. along with that comes a loss of revenue was so we have done everything we can to short ourselves up in the face of change, but the reality is there are lots of people accessing your content now don't really help contribute to us producing sive thing to do, so we are marking founder's day and kicking off a campaign to ask the public for their help continuing to support c-span. we will still have our important cable and select companies

carrying our signal o pay $.75 a year to carry c-span n description fees, but we are asking people who areat the caug us online through youtube or through social media if they would like to help support c-spanoffer gavel to gavel covef congress, our history programming, and all educational materials we develop for the classroom all which is available for free without the support of the cable contribute.o wre founder's day is an interesting concept. i think the founders as being the entrepreneurs who started c-span and created the private enterprise of the congress that said is to televise these -- televising the sessions saying yes, the reporters who covered us when we were an unknown quantity and were not quite sure what to make of it,

but more importantly the viewers who watched over the years, the viewers supporting this network has been critical who call into the, call and shows you supporty using our products, and in many cases they help uscable systems over the years when we were seeking to expand our coverage. now we are calling on viewers to help us in a different way with a little bit of support on founders date to helpcontributin c-span into the future. >> so with those business challenges and opportunities what can our viewers expect of us in the future? well our goal is the mothership is >> an update into investigation of the baltimore bridge collapsed, live on c-span. [inaudible] ■a>> coming up live here on

c-span, the ntsb chair will give an update on the investigation into the deadly baltimore key bridge collapsed. pthis briefing is scheduled to start in a few minutes. we will bring you live coverage when it does herein's -- here on c-span. [inaudible]

ui■;>> before we get into the

question of abortion access, just a quick update on that bridge collapse in baltimore. it's on the front page of all the papers. here's the washington post with the headline. after losing power, six construction workers are presumed dead.

the collapse deals a blow to the economy with shipping halted at crucial pos. and also on the front -- my question is, isn't that enough to remedy their issue? do we have to also entertain your n