DirecTV puts Newsmax back on the air after angry protests from Republicans

Enlarge / Newsmax logo displayed at the National Rifle Association annual meeting in Houston, Texas on May 28, 2022. Getty Images | Patrick T. Fallon

Two months after dropping Newsmax instead of paying new fees, DirecTV has reached an agreement to put the conservative news network back into the satellite provider's lineup of channels.

Newsmax had waged an aggressive public relations campaign against DirecTV. "This is a blatant act of political discrimination and censorship against Newsmax," Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy said Jan. 25 in an article posted on the network's website.

Newsmax changed its tune today by announcing the deal that will put Newsmax back on DirecTV starting tomorrow. "While we raised the issue of censorship related to our withdrawal, we now believe in DirecTV's commitment to airing diverse viewpoints, including conservative viewpoints," Newsmax said in a statement provided to Ars. .

Ruddy provided a statement for DirecTV's press release today, stating that "Newsmax recognizes and appreciates that DirecTV clearly supports diverse voices, including the most conservative."

GOP lawmakers slammed DirecTV

Newsmax previously hired former US Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) as a lobbyist in its fight against DirecTV and had allies in Congress. A letter from 42 Republican lawmakers to the CEOs of AT&T and DirecTV claimed that DirecTV appears to be "actively working to limit conservative views on its system."

The Republican lawmakers' letter also claimed that Democrats had coordinated with private companies to launch an "undemocratic attack on free speech." AT&T owns 70% of DirecTV.

DirecTV had carried Newsmax since 2014, but told Ars in January that it had never paid Newsmax under the previous deal. While Newsmax demanded a distribution fee that would run into the tens of millions of dollars, DirecTV said "the requests for rate increases would have resulted in significantly higher costs that we would have had to pass on to our large customer base."

No additional cost for DirecTV users

DirecTV said in an announcement today that "Newsmax will be available on DirecTV, DirecTV Stream and U-verse at no additional cost to customers." This seems to suggest that if DirecTV is paying anything to Newsmax under the new deal, it's a much lower amount than Newsmax is asking for.

DirecTV CEO Bill Morrow said, "Through our persistent negotiations, we have reached a resolution on mutually acceptable commercial terms allowing us to provide the conservative news network at the right value, a reflection of the free market at work."

A DirecTV spokesperson declined to tell Ars Today if the satellite company would agree to pay Newsmax, saying "terms of the renewal, which includes a multi-year distribution deal, have not been disclosed ".

"This agreement marks the end of a months-long carriage dispute that stemmed from financial differences with Newsmax and concludes with an agreement at no additional cost to our customers," DirecTV said. "Our desire has always been to provide Newsmax, and never to limit conservative voices, with a view that Newsmax now recognizes and accepts."

Cable and satellite TV providers have routinely blamed carriage disputes on networks seeking higher payouts. "This agreement marks DirecTV's latest successful resolution to a carriage dispute, an unfortunate but increasingly frequent occurrence involving nearly all pay-TV and streaming providers trying to control rising consumer costs," said said DirecTV today.

DirecTV said it has "resolved public disputes with approximately 50 programmers or station groups" over the past five years, with those battles typically lasting a few days or weeks but "stretching into months in some cases".< /p> DirecTV called the Newmax attacks false and disturbing

When the dispute arose in January, Newsmax claimed that DirecTV was paying...