Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) slammed DirecTV and its parent company AT&T over its decision to drop Newsmax from its channel lineup.
The network was cut after DirecTV refused to pay the station a higher carriage fee. In its place, DirecTV added another right-wing network, The First.
But the conservative-for-conservation station swap hasn’t stopped Newsmax and their right-wing guests from claiming the decision to drop the channel is part of an effort to silence conservatives. Newsmax hosts have incessantly beseeched viewers to call DirecTV and even appeal to their members of Congress. Lawmakers appearing as guests on the network are also frequently asked to weigh in, and Wednesday’s Rob Schmitt Tonight was no exception.
After Cruz ripped the Biden administration for his handling of the border, Rob Schmitt said drug every drug cartel member south of the border “probably has a Biden bumper sticker” and should donate millions to pro-Biden super PACs.
The host then pivoted to DirecTV.
“You sent a letter to AT&T and DirecTV with a number of other senators demanding to know whether government officials influenced them to drop Newsmax a few weeks ago,” Schmitt said. “Today is the deadline for the CEOs of AT&T and DirecTV and TPG – a big investment firm – to respond. I don’t think you’ve gotten anything back at this point. Do you expect to be ignored on this?”
“So we have not gotten a response yet,” Cruz replied. “The deadline was today. Their legal teams have told us they’re going to get the response in by the end of the day today. So I’m anticipating a response and I think what DirecTV did was indefensible. It is deeply concerning.”
Cruz then said millions of his constituents long for the unbiased coverage the network allegedly provides.
“The outcome I want to see is Newsmax back on the air on DirecTV because there are millions of Texans that want the choice of being able to watch Newsmax and being actually able to hear fair and balanced reporting,” he said.
“I obviously completely agree,” Schmitt stated.
Newsmax briefly scored a rare ratings victory over Fox News in December 2020 when then-President Donald Trump was howling falsely about the election being stolen from him a month before. Perhaps more than Fox News at the time, Newsmax pushed Trump’s false claims and platformed several cranks and kooks to promote baseless election conspiracy theories.
The network is being sued by Smartmatic, an information technology company that hosts and guests claimed was involved in vote-rigging.
It is also worth pointing out that live Newsmax programming is available on YouTube at no cost.
Watch above via Newsmax.
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