Aaron M. Sprecher via AP
DirecTV responded to a letter from Republican Sens. Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Mike Lee inquiring about its decision to drop Newsmax from its channel lineup.
The AT&T subsidiary removed Newsmax after the network demanded it be paid higher carriage fees. DirecTV replaced the network with another conservative channel, The First, which features shows hosted by right-wing pundits such as Bill O’Reilly and Dana Loesch.
That hasn’t stopped Newsmax and its allies in Congress from crying censorship.
“It has been alleged that DirecTV pays substantial sums to numerous channels that are politically left-of-center, even when those channels have substantially lower ratings than Newsmax,” the letter stated, seeking answers from the carrier.
In response, DirecTV general counsel Michael Hartman sent a letter on Wednesday, telling the senators the move was purely a business decision.
“With respect to the Newsmax situation, put simply, this is a typical business dispute that has nothing to do with ideology, politics or censorship – despite unfounded accusations to the contrary by Newsmax, its CEO, its commentators and others,” Hartman wrote.
As The Daily Beast noted, Newsmax asked DirecTV for $1 per subscriber annually, which would have amounted to about $13 million a year.
Hartman stated that Newsmax makes itself available for free on other carriers and streaming services.
“Unfortunately, in pursuit of a purely commercial goal that it has not been able to obtain through negotiations, Newsmax is using its news/editorial platform to publish inaccurate and misleading information regarding our contract dispute,” he wrote.
A Newsmax spokesperson disputed this characterization in a statement to Mediaite.
“Newsmax is the second conservative news channel DirecTV has deplatformed in a year while keeping many lower-rated, more expensive liberal news channels,” the statement read. “At the same time it tells Newsmax we are never eligible for any cable fees. This demonstrates bias and discrimination and the Senate should investigate the matter.”
The spokesperson noted that Gigi Sohn, who was nominated by President Joe Biden to helm the Federal Communications Commission, said the agency should investigate the matter.
In recent weeks, Newsmax hosts have bombarded viewers with requests, asking them to contact DirecTV and even appeal to their members of Congress. Lawmakers who give the network interviews are also frequently asked to weigh in.
On Wednesday, for example, Cruz called on DirecTV to reverse its decision and reinstate Newsmax, calling the station “fair and balanced.”
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