Brian Mast to Newsmax: Congress Should 'Take a Look' at DirecTV

Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., told Newsmax on Thursday that Congress should "take a look at" DirecTV's decision to remove Newsmax from its network lineup.

Mast said on "American Agenda" that he "spoke to some of the executive team" at DirecTV and "learned about the issue, wrote letters ... along with others, and so hopefully this is something that Congress does actually take a look at."

He continued, "It's another attempt to silence other points of view — and certainly in this case, as we would expect by them, the conservative point of view. And you know, this is what Congress has had their hearings on today. This is an extension of that."

DirecTV customers call toll free at 877-763-9762 to cancel/complain

Newsmax is the fourth highest-rated cable news channel reaching 25 million Americans, according to Nielsen.

DirecTV claimed both Newsmax and OAN were removed as "cost-cutting" measures.

At the same time, the service continues to carry 22 left-leaning news channels, many with much lower ratings than Newsmax. And all of those channels get license fees.

This week DirecTV claimed Newsmax was demanding "excessive fees" that would cost them in the "tens of millions" of dollars.

Newsmax has denied these claims, saying it was seeking a fee of about $1 per cable subscriber per year, among the lowest fees asked for in cable, and that total amount of the deal was a fraction of "tens of millions."

"This was never about the fees being excessive," Chris Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax, said. "DirecTV's position has always been that Newsmax of all cable news channels should never get any cable fee whatsoever, not one penny."

DirecTV has issued a statement saying it wants Newsmax back on its service, but only on its terms.

Ruddy said there has been no real negotiation and no flexibility by DirecTV in its refusal to pay any carriage fees to the network.

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.

• Rep. Mike Collins to Newsmax: Let DirecTV Know You're Not Happy
• Rep. Russell Fry to Newsmax: DirecTV Doesn't 'Make a Lot of Sense'