1995–1999 Free Speech TV is an outgrowth of three projects that attempted to establish wider dissemination of progressive perspectives on television: ''
The 90's, a landmark television series seen on public television and cable; The 90's Channel'', a network of seven full-time cable channels dedicated to independent media; and the part-time Free Speech TV Program Service, launched in 1995 as an innovative approach to curating and distributing independent media to a distribution network of community access cable stations. Public television stations carried some Free Speech TV's special series, such as
Just Solutions: Campaigning for Human Right. The network's efforts in streaming media online won it a 1998 Streamers Award and 1999
Webby Award.
2000–2006 In January 2000—as the result of an FCC-mandated public interest channel set-aside—Free Speech TV became a national, full-time channel on the
Dish Network satellite television system while continuing to build a national network of part-time local cable affiliates. Program highlights from the channel's formative years included live field reporting of the
anti-globalization movement spawned at the
1999 WTO protests in Seattle; the
2000 US presidential elections, including
Democracy Now!s premiere as a television program at the
Republican and
Democratic conventions; the
September 11 attacks, to which FSTV responded with a daily news report and weekly current affairs program; and extensive coverage of the large global anti-war mobilization and the subsequent U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and
Iraq.
2007–2010 In 2007, FSTV moved from Boulder to Denver, covering events inside and outside the
2008 Democratic National Convention, where
Barack Obama accepted his party's nomination for president. Over the following years, the network stepped up its daily coverage of national politics with the addition of
GRITtv with Laura Flanders,
The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann and
Al Jazeera English. FSTV's daily news programs—led by
The Thom Hartmann Program and
Democracy Now!—became FSTV's top programs in terms of popularity and "stickiness" (a measure of audience engagement and loyalty). During the
Arab Spring, FSTV pre-empted much of its regular non-news programming to Al Jazeera English's reporting from Cairo's
Tahrir Square and other locations.
2011–2012 In 2011 and 2012, FSTV coverage provided a window into efforts to reform workers' rights in Wisconsin and other states, as well as into the
Occupy Wall Street movement. The network secured a national channel on
DirecTV in 2010; piloted its first
OTT ("over-the-top") channel, on Roku, in 2011; and launched full-time cable channels in
Burlington, Vermont, and
Ashland, Oregon, in 2012. FSTV and GM Jon Stout were the recipients of the 2010 National Professional Freedom and Responsibility Award, presented by the
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. This award recognizes individuals and organizations for "a profound commitment to free expression; ethics; media criticism and accountability; racial, gender, and cultural inclusiveness; and public service."
2013–present In 2013, FSTV started conferring with public television stations to gain over-the-air and cable carriage in major urban markets. The shutdown of the progressive channel
Current TV and its replacement with
Al Jazeera America had major ramifications on the network. In August 2013 Free Speech TV lost its popular
Al Jazeera English News Hour,
The Stream and
Fault Lines shows when Al Jazeera launched Al Jazeera America. The news programming was replaced with news from
France 24. On September 9, 2013, Bill Press joined the channel with his simulcast of
The Bill Press Show, which moved over from the defunct Current TV. In January 2014 the channel added
The Stephanie Miller Show, also from the defunct Current TV after a successful
Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to build the show's new radio/TV studio, buy equipment and produce the show. This reunites the former Current TV morning block on Free Speech TV. In October 2013 Free Speech TV and Karel.Media in association with Brandon Riley Miller Productions launched ''Karel's Life in Segments
starring Charles Karel Bouley. In October 2014, Free Speech TV launched Uprising with Sonali'', featuring Sonali Kolhatkar in partnership with
Pacifica Radio station
KPFK-FM, Los Angeles. Uprising Radio was the longest running daily morning show on Southern California public radio before premiering as a television show on Free Speech TV. In recent years, FSTV's television footprint has grown to more than 40 million homes. The network's monthly viewership (cumulative) nearly doubled to more than 1 million households over a two-year period between 2012 and 2014. == Funding ==