TVW / Washington State Public Affairs Network

TVW is Washington State's public affairs network, founded in 1993 and going on air April 10, 1995 with the first-ever televised state court proceeding - a Washington State Supreme Court death penalty case - establishing immediately its commitment to unfiltered, unbiased coverage of all three branches of state government from its headquarters in Olympia.

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit widely described as Washington State's equivalent of C-SPAN, TVW covers all House and Senate committee hearings and floor debates, all Washington State Supreme Court oral arguments statewide, comprehensive election coverage of statewide offices and ballot measures, and unedited coverage of state agencies including the Transportation Commission and Fish and Wildlife Commission. TVW travels throughout the state to cover hearings in Seattle, Spokane, Tri-Cities, Bellingham, Vancouver, and beyond, receives more than $7 million annually in in-kind cable channel contributions, and supplements that with legislative contract funding and private underwriting for its produced programming.

Washington State residents across the state - from the west side metro areas to the rural communities of eastern Washington - rely on TVW for the unmediated access to state government that commercial media cannot sustain, making it an essential institution of democratic accountability for a state whose legislative, executive, and judicial proceedings would otherwise be largely invisible to most of its citizens.