Legislative leaders have reached a tentative bipartisan agreement to fund WisconsinEye, the state’s version of C-SPAN, over a month after it went dark.
A story appeared in the Baraboo News-Republic’s Jan. 24, 2026 issue about the agreement. According to the story:
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, announced the deal Thursday ahead of that day’s Assembly floor session, the third not streamed live for the public to see in the last 18 years.
The deal, which would still require the nonpartisan nonprofit to raise hundreds of thousands for its own operations and revamp its board of directors, would give it access to money raised as interest on its endowment.
The bill is expected to be introduced in the coming weeks. A finalized agreement with Senate leaders is still in the works, Vos said, but lawmakers in both chambers say they want some form of streaming for legislative proceedings.
Vos said the Legislature also intends to sign a short-term contract with the network commonly known as WisEye to broadcast its February floor sessions.
“At a time when we don’t always find consensus, it is nice that something like transparency and open government, I think we’re in sync,” Vos said.
Vos added that having one group tasked with streaming government affairs is more efficient than the patchwork of coverage that the Senate and the state Supreme Court are attempting to establish in WisEye’s absence.
WisconsinEye president and CEO Jon Henkes said his understanding is that interest raised from the $9.75 million remaining in the endowment fund — lawmakers had previously granted WisconsinEye access to $250,000 of those funds — could be enough to cover roughly two-thirds of WisconsinEye’s operating budget, leaving the organization responsible for the remainder.
WisconsinEye would still be responsible for raising any funds needed for equipment upgrades, maintenance or program expansion, but Henkes said the scenario would be very much doable.
“We’re not presuming anything, but we’re very grateful for what happened today,” Henkes said. “We’re grateful that we’ve got a way out of this and I’m pretty confident that, come February, we’ll be in a position where we will light up the network full steam ahead.”
During committee hearings and floor sessions earlier this month, lawmakers — particularly Democrats — have bemoaned what they said was a lack of transparency by the Legislature without WisEye’s cameras rolling. They’ve accused committee chairs and Legislative leaders of making decisions on significant bills at a time when people can’t easily tune in to see what their representatives are doing.
WisEye shut down on Dec. 15, ceasing recording of government operations, and taking its website offline, including 30,000 hours of archived coverage, after it failed to raise enough money for its nearly $900,000 annual operating budget.
Despite providing gavel-to-gavel coverage since it began broadcasting in May 2007, the organization has faced funding challenges in recent years amid competition by other nonprofits and a tough economic climate.
The media network is the nation’s first and only independent state capitol broadcast organization.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and the Republican-controlled Legislature have made millions in taxpayer money available to WisconsinEye, but the organization has struggled to raise the money necessary to secure matching endowment dollars from the state.
A $10 million endowment established for it in the 2023-25 budget was intended to provide the funds needed to operate, but only if the nonprofit could raise matching funds. Lawmakers have since acknowledged that matching requirement was likely unattainable.
The network’s primary audience generally includes members and staff of the state Legislature and administration, lawyers, lobbyists, trade associations, members of the news media and political wonks.
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