The House Judiciary Committee will investigate the "far-left biased" censorship of conservative voices, including AT&T DirecTV's deplatforming of Newsmax, Rep. French Hill said on Newsmax Sunday.
"I look forward to those results, and I'm glad my constituents are dropping AT&T and writing to AT&T and complaining about dropping Newsmax, which is an important independent source of news," the Arkansas Republican said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America."
He added that "we should want more news sources in this country, not fewer, for all of our families to consume."
DirecTV customers call toll free at 877-763-9762 to cancel/complain
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, but AT&T's DirecTV carries 22 left-leaning news channels, many of which draw considerably lower ratings than Newsmax, and those channels get paid license fees.
DirecTV claimed Newsmax was demanding "excessive fees" that would amount to "tens of millions" of dollars. Newsmax denied that, saying it is seeking an approximate fee of $1 per cable subscriber per year, among the lowest requested fees in cable.
"This was never about the fees being excessive," Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy said. "DirecTV's position has always been that Newsmax — of all cable news channels — should never get any cable fee whatsoever, not one penny."
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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