As of 11:50 p.m. EST Tuesday, the conservative network Newsmax had reportedly been removed from DirecTV.
The network is no longer carried on DirecTV, DirecTV Stream, or U-Verse, according to DirecTV, and the move was made owing to Newsmax’s “demands for pricing increases.”
As more consumers abandon linear television, the satellite TV firm has been slashing expenses. The corporation said in January that it will lay off 10% of its managerial personnel, or several hundred people.
Newsmax executives are responding to the action by calling it “censorship” against the network.
“This is a blatant act of political discrimination and censorship against Newsmax,” Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy claimed in a statement.
On Jan. 20, Republican lawmakers wrote to DirecTV’s CEO, as well as the CEOs of AT&T and private equity firm TPG Capital, the company’s owners, expressing concern about the removal of Newsmax in light of the company’s decision to remove One America News, another conservative network, from its lineup last year.
It’s absurd @DIRECTV caved to the woke mob and partisan demands of Democrats to censure @NEWSMAX.
America deserves to hear ALL points of view!— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) January 23, 2023
Newsmax portrays itself as a competitor to Fox News, having hired some of its former personalities and being a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump.
After being pulled from the satellite network and its competitor, Dish, in 2016, the conservative TV station returned to DirecTV in June 2017.
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