C-Span-2 Launching Books Show

C-SPAN, which has already made its mark with its long-running “Booknotes” Sunday evening author-conversation series, said last week that it is launching a new five-hour weekend programming block on C-SPAN2 called “About Books,” which is to be devoted to books, authors and the publishing industry.

“About Books” will get a special preview this Sunday on C-SPAN starting at 9, immediately following “Booknotes.” The latter, now in its seventh year, is hosted by Brian Lamb, the chairman and CEO of the two public affairs networks, who will probably share host duties on the new program.

“About Books” debuts on C-SPAN2 as a series on May 18, from 6 to 9 p.m. and on Sunday from 6 to 8 p.m.

C-SPAN, which carries gavel-to-gavel House proceedings, has a national reach of some 67 million cable subscribers. C-SPAN2 has a potential reach of 44.3 million cable viewers.