Robert Rosencrans, C-SPAN chairman, dies at 89

(AP) — Robert Rosencrans, the first board chairman of C-SPAN who helped steer the public affairs network through its opening years and worked for the organization for almost four decades, has died.

Rosencrans wrote a check for $25,000 and convinced other cable industry people to contribute to what proved to be the seed money that helped create the infrastructure to transmit the first live broadcasts of the U.S. House of Representatives on March 19, 1979, to roughly 3.5 million homes served by 350 cable systems.

In a video tribute on C-SPAN, Rosencrans described the role of the network as giving the American public access to the proceedings in the nation's capital.