C-SPAN holds the exclusive copyright in the video of all the public affairs programming it produces.

Although C-SPAN is the only news media organization that regularly televises the legislative proceedings of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, it does not hold a copyright in that video coverage. That government-produced video is in the public domain which means that it belongs to the American people and may be used without restrictions of any kind.

As part of its mission to make the activities of the federal government more broadly available, C-SPAN has established a copyright policy that allows the public to use C-SPAN's video coverage of federal government events for their own purposes. Those who want to use C-SPAN copyrighted video will be able to do so without concern about further copyright restrictions as long as they adhere to the following policy:

• C-SPAN permits non-commercial use of its video coverage of federal government-sponsored events so long as C-SPAN is identified during the use as the source of the video.
   
• Keeping a "C-SPAN" logo on the screen during the use is sufficient to identify C-SPAN as the source.
   
• This generally unrestrictive policy regarding non-commercial use does not apply to (i) original programs created by C-SPAN, (ii) video coverage of privately sponsored events, and (iii) video coverage of other events not sponsored by the federal government.
   
• C-SPAN does not permit unlicensed commercial use of any of its video programming regardless of whether the use cites C-SPAN as the source of the video. Commercial uses of C-SPAN video may be permitted under an individually negotiated license for which a license fee may be due. [See Licensing and Permissions Requests]
   
• Nothing in this copyright policy is intended to affect any person's right to make a "fair use" of C-SPAN video programming.