People are angry that Newsmax was deplatformed by AT&T and DirecTV and are letting the carrier know they want the network back, Rep. Ben Cline said Friday.
"I'm surprised and angry, and my constituents are angry that Newsmax and conservative voices are being shut out as a result of these business decisions," the Virginia Republican said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "These are bad decisions for the public. These are apparently decisions being made with political bias."
Cline added that his constituents are "furious and are definitely letting me know and are definitely letting the carriers know that they want Newsmax and they want their unbiased news."
Further, he said, "they don't want the woke, CNN and MSNBC type shows. They want the straight news that Newsmax gives them and they're letting me know, and they're letting the carriers know as well."
DirecTV customers call toll free at 877-763-9762 to cancel/complain
Cline added that he has a family member in Virginia who dropped DirecTV as a result of its actions, and that others back home are "mad."
"They're emailing saying, 'We want Newsmax back, and they want unbiased news,'" he said. "They don't have it across the spectrum of shows that are carried by DirecTV. They have a lot of really woke and communist news networks but they don't have that unbiased news that they had with Newsmax."
As a result, Cline said, "they're speaking loudly and clearly and their dollars are speaking loudly and clearly as they move elsewhere."
Newsmax is America's fourth highest-rated news network in the cable landscape and a top-20 overall channel that reaches 25 million Americans weekly, according to the Nielsen ratings.
DirecTV said it dropped the popular network due to "cost-cutting" measures and claimed this week DirecTV claimed Newsmax was demanding "excessive fees" that would amount to "tens of millions" of dollars.
Newsmax denied that, saying it's seeking an approximate fee of $1 per cable subscriber per year, among the lowest requested fees in cable.
AT&T DirecTV also carries 22 left-leaning news channels, many of which draw considerably lower ratings than Newsmax, and those channels get paid license fees.
"This was never about the fees being excessive," said Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax. "DirecTV's position has always been that Newsmax, of all cable news channels, should never get any cable fee whatsoever, not one penny."
DirecTV recently issued a statement that it wants Newsmax back on its service, but on its terms.
Ruddy said there has been no real negotiation or no flexibility provided by DirecTV in its refusal to pay carriage fees.
Actions to Take Now
1. DirecTV customers call toll free at 877-763-9762 to cancel/complain.
2. AT&T customers call toll free at 888-855-2338 to cancel/complain for U-verse, cellular, and wireless services.
3. Call your congressman or senator at 202-224-3121 and demand they stop AT&T DirecTV's censorship of NEWSMAX — ask them to give you a date on the hearings!
4. Go to our online petition and get more info: iWantNewsmax.com.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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