Newsmax CEO calls outlet's removal from DirecTV 'blatant act' of censorship of most faith-friendly news channel
DirecTV claims news outlet's removal is 'not ideological'
It’s been about two weeks since DirecTV canceled conservative news network Newsmax in what the channel’s CEO is calling a “blatant act of political discrimination and censorship.”
Late last month, DirecTV took Newsmax off the air in roughly 13.5 million homes after the two companies failed to reach an agreement on a new carriage deal.
Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy told The Christian Post that DirecTV is “angry” simply because the Florida-based Newsmax is seeking a very “modest” fee of about a dollar per subscriber.
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For Ruddy, it’s a clear-cut example of political censorship for a network that’s frequently touted by the likes of former President Donald Trump and potential 2024 presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“Newsmax has been censored by DirecTV,” he told CP. “They removed us from their platform in 13 million homes almost two weeks ago and we're still off.
“It's a blatant act of political discrimination and censorship,” Ruddy added.
As a new channel, Newsmax programming was streaming for free and was also available on ad-supported services like Pluto TV and Roku.
That, Ruddy said, is a key factor in the current standoff.
"DirecTV knows that that stream is ending soon, and ... we'll be a traditional cable channel like CNN, FOX and all the rest,” he said.
In a statement, DirecTV said the operator’s “differences with Newsmax are economic, not political or ideological” and began after “Newsmax made unreasonable demands that would force DirecTV customers to fund the network’s shift from a free nationwide streaming service to one that will require a pay TV subscription.”
“Since we would not agree to Newsmax’s demand to pay them tens of millions of dollars in licensing fees, DirecTV was no longer permitted by Newsmax to air its content,” DirecTV said in a statement.
Ruddy, who launched the 24-hour news channel in 2014 as a “kinder, gentler Fox,” rejected DirecTV’s assertion.
"That's baloney," he said.
“They want to give us zero cable fees to carry us. That means that we would not only be treated differently than all the rest of the other cable channels, but if we got zero fees from them, we would end up getting zero fees from all other operators,” he explained. “That's how the industry works, and we would essentially be put out of business.
“That's what they're trying to do, is to censor us by demonetizing us.”
According to Ruddy, it’s an effort that stretches back to February 2021, when House Democrats wrote AT&T, Comcast and other distributors about their plans to continue carrying Fox News, One America News Network (OANN) and Newsmax.
Penned by California Democratic Reps. Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney, the letter sought to link the post-2020 election riot at the U.S. Capitol with what lawmakers described as “misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories, and lies.”
“These phenomena undergird the radicalization of seditious individuals who committed acts of insurrection on January 6th, and it contributes to a growing distrust of public health measures necessary to crush the pandemic,” the letter stated.
Last April, DirecTV announced it was dropping OANN.
That move, said Ruddy, was yet another signal that DirecTV is going after channels that produce content with a specific political — and often religious — slant.
“The targeting is based on people with conservative political views,” he said. “Traditional Christians have traditional values, they're viewed as conservative-oriented.”
Identifying himself as a “believing Christian,” Ruddy said Newsmax “is considered the most faith-friendly cable channel out there," even more so than competitors like Fox News.
“We make a very clear effort to make what happens in Christianity, and society, religious freedom to be very important to Newsmax,” he said, pointing to segments such as Franklin Graham and Samaritan's Purse providing updates from Ukraine with Greta Van Susteren.
“Newsmax is not a religious channel, but we believe Judeo-Christian ethics is key to the founding of this country and the principles upon which the founding documents and the Constitution were created,” said Ruddy.
He also warned of a "greater and greater effort" by mainstream news channels to shun Christian audiences.
“There are 22 liberal news channels they carry on DirecTV,” Ruddy said. “You never hear about them being deplatformed.”
DirecTV has pushed back against such complaints and has even launched its own conservative network, The First, which features hosts such as Bill O’Reilly, Dana Loesch, Liz Wheeler and Jesse Kelly.
While it claims to be “disappointed” by the standoff, DirecTV says the operator is still “interested in bringing Newsmax back under the right financial terms.”
But for Ruddy, it’s unclear whether this will be resolved anytime soon.
“I don't know, I can't predict the future,” he said. “I'll leave it in God's hands, but I do think there's been such an outpouring of support. … So far, they have not been a willing partner for us."
Ian M. Giatti is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ian.giatti@christianpost.com.
