Within days, Newsmax successfully turned a standard fee dispute with a pay TV provider into a dispute political footballconvince Congress threatening DirecTV with hearings for dying pro-Trump.
Since the satellite carrier pulled Newsmax from its product line last week, the channel has filled with its radio waves with anti-DirecTV rhetoric accusing the company and its corporate partner AT&T of “political discrimination” against conservatives while urging viewers to cancel the company’s production.
At the same time, Newsmax has broadcast non-stop a series of fake claims about content remaining on DirecTV’s product line, repeatedly insisting that the provider is paying for “22 free news channels” while refusing to offer any license fees for Newsmax. Claiming to be “the fourth highest-rated cable news network” in the US, the channel also complains that its viewership is lower than “most” of these nearly two dozen left-leaning stations—but DirecTV will does not adequately compensate the right-wing news channel.
Much of what Newsmax has said about the failed DirecTV deal, has been parrot of the Republican Party on Capitol Hill, from misleading to outright false.
The court-wide press has worked with GOP, who had promised to hold investigations into anti-conservative bias in the media and Big Tech even before winning a slim majority in the House of Representatives last year. Many days later Republican House of Representatives exerts pressure DirecTV pays Newsmax “fair and reasonable” fees while accusing the company of “colluding” with Democrats to censor conservative speech, their Senate colleagues suitable for.
“The silencing of conservative speech at the request of government officials is a direct attack on freedom of expression and a threat to democracy,” the letter issued by the senator said. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and three other senators wrote.
In addition, the lawmakers’ warnings to DirecTV echoed many of the same statements Newsmax and Chris Ruddy CEO did it over and over again. “It is alleged that DirecTV pays substantial sums to many politically biased channels, even if those channels have ratings significantly lower than Newsmax,” the senators said pay TV service provider this week. “And, it is alleged that DirecTV refused to pay any net money to Newsmax—and explicitly stated that it would never pay any net money to Newsmax—despite the obvious apparently with significantly fewer viewers received millions of dollars from DirecTV. “
While DirecTV has yet to issue an official response to this latest letter from the GOP, a company spokesperson issued the following statement to The Daily Beast: “We take the concerns raised seriously by the company. raised by elected officials, and in our response to the letter, we plan to detail the facts behind our business decisions based on financial terms, not ideology. We continue to offer our customers a balanced mix of 24-hour news channels as part of a diverse program lineup.”
As for the allegations made by Newsmax and the Republican Party about DirecTV and the rest of its channels, let’s take a look at the facts.
DirecTV Air’s ’22 Freedom News’ channels right?
Short answer: No. Since DirecTV removed Newsmax from its service last Wednesday, Newsmax has aired nearly 200 segments in which the hosts—apparently all reading from the same script—have complained that the host offers are “holding 22 free news channels that cost you more than Newsmax, and they also have lower ratings.
But what exactly are these underrated leftist news networks that DirecTV is unfairly paying for shipping while refusing to pay Newsmax a dime to air its content?
Thankfully, Newsmax has provided that list—and it’s a doozy.
According to the network, DirecTV’s “freelance news channels” include (among others) the ABC, CBS and NBC broadcast networks, PBS, The Weather Channel, Vice TV, BBC, CNN, Newsnation, CNBC, Bloomberg TV, Telemundo, Univision and niche stations Comedy.TV and Justice Central.
““Newsmax believes it was clearly discriminated against.” “
Although channels such as Vice, PBS, Spanish-speaking networks, and major television stations broadcast nightly news programs, they can hardly be described as “news channels”. Furthermore, the description of special services such as Justice Central (which only broadcasts first-run courtroom blocks shows the same view as The People’s Court) as a downright offensive news network.
In terms of 24-hour cable news channels that can be considered similar to Newsmax, the following channels apply from the network’s list: CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Bloomberg, Newsnation, Cheddar, CNN International, CNBC World , BBC World News and CNN en Spanish.
Now, are all these channels considered free? While that’s entirely subjective, Newsmax backs up its claim by pointing out a 2019 poll found Most Americans believe that all network news channels are left-leaning. So, according to the network, that means The Weather Channel and a channel that broadcasts stand-alone comic book performances must be part of a freelance news base.
Does DirecTV pay for these ’22 Free News’ channels?
Short answer: It’s complicated.
Newsmax claims that the “liberal news channels” they have identified are all paid “in the millions of dollars” by DirecTV, suggesting that this indicates the company is doing a Democratic bid to silence the public. right-wing voices. They also pointed to DirecTV’s decision to remove the little-followed conspiracy network One America News last year as further proof of this sinister anti-conservative conspiracy. However, they don’t complain the same about Verizon FIOS doing same thing with OAN—probably by Newsmax reach an agreement with a cable TV provider.
This hits the heart of the dispute between DirecTV and Newsmax. DirecTV, like other multi-channel video program distributors, has witnessed subscriber base plummeted in recent years due to cable cuts, reduced TV revenue, and free TV and streaming options. Newsmax, which has been with DirecTV since its launch in 2014, has never been licensed by a paid service provider during its tenure. Instead, the pay-TV company announced it offered the channel—it didn’t reach a significant audience until the end of 2020—a platform on which to build your ad revenue base. DirecTV balked after the channel demanded shipping fees equivalent to about $1 a subscriber, saying Newsmax streams its content for free on various other platforms. such as Rokuas well as its own application.
Stations that offer their services to viewers for free through streaming are called FAST channel, which stands for “free, ad-supported television”. In the ever-evolving world of ever-expanding content and endless options for viewers, various platforms such as Roku, Pluto TV, Amazon’s Fire TV, and Freevee have come to be for these channels— offers customers a lot of free content.
Newsmax, which has long been available for free on some of these streamers and devices, declared that DirecTV “fully knows” that its free streaming option will eventually end this year, and that other operators aren’t currently paying for the network’s content until that happens.
Meanwhile, some of the “liberal news” networks Newsmax has accused DirecTV of paying license fees to be considered FAST channels, such as Cheddar And the Grios. Another channel, Bloomberg TV, is briefly reduced by DirecTV at the end of 2021 after both parties could not come to an agreement on a contract extension. From return aired on DirecTV, Bloomberg TV is currently offered on free platforms like Roku.
DirecTV, citing nondisclosure terms regarding its contracts with other channels, would not comment on whether these channels are paid by the company. However, its stance on FAST channels suggests they are broadcast without a license fee. In addition, the company only has replaced Newsmax with right-wing network The Firsta FAST channel that DirecTV recorded is broadcasting for free on its services.
Newsmax and the Republican Party also focus a lot of energy on DirecTV paid shipping for Vice TV, even though its ratings were lower than Newsmax and was said to have a liberal bias. Vice TV, like many channels, is actually part of a station package for which DirecTV pays a flat fee to broadcast.
This channel is part of A&E Networks, which also includes The History Channel, A&E and Lifetime. Ironically, these channels are part of a “opt-in” program by DirecTV to save on shipping, as a satellite service provider deleted their program from the lineup if the subscriber doesn’t watch them.
In fact, some of the channels included in Newsmax’s listing are part of bundled packages. For example, Allen Media Corporation owns The Weather Channel, Comedy.TV and Justice Central TV, which explains why DirecTV offers all of those networks.
Representatives for the channels listed did not respond to comment or declined to discuss with The Daily Beast, citing confidentiality of contract terms.
When asked to explain how the network knew that all of these channels were paid for by DirecTV, a Newsmax representative pointed to analysis done by DirecTV. a media and communication company.
“Newsmax believes it has been clearly discriminated against. “Despite being the 4th highest-rated cable news channel, DirecTV said we will never be eligible for cable licensing fees,” the spokesperson said. “We identified 22 other cable news channels and all charged, according to SNL Kagan, even those with ratings much lower than Newsmax.”
Is Newsmax the fourth highest rated cable news network?
Short answer: Correctbut not according to its own indication.
When only including CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Newsnation and a host of other 24/7 news channels, Newsmax now ranks far fourth behind the Big Three cable news networks.
However, since it is now claimed that DirecTV broadcasts “22 free news channels”, its ratings pale in comparison to many other networks.
Just using the stations on the list that Newsmax is quoting, Newsmax would rank 12th. If you add Fox News and FOX, which qualify based on Newsmax’s broad definition of a “news” network, the channel MAGA cable will drop to 14th.
According to Nielsen, Newsmax’s average daily household audience last year was 101,343, behind networks like CNBC (which itself can be considered “cable news” rather than just “business”). “), The Weather Channel, HLN (omitted original programming news). Furthermore, the major broadcast networks – which Newsmax has lumped together with other “low-rated” freelance channels – attract 12 to 21 times more viewers anywhere than Newsmax.
