Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton earnestly believes that AT&T (primary stakeholder of DirecTV) bided its time for one year before removing Newsmax from DirecTV's channel lineup last week — just to see if the cable giant could get away with such a bold move in the eyes of the viewing public.
"They did the same thing to OAN last year ... and that looks even more [political] now," Paxton told Newsmax on Thursday afternoon, while appearing on "American Agenda" with hosts Bob Sellers and Katrina Szish.
"Clearly, [AT&T] waited a year, and nothing bad happened to [DirecTV] last time," continued Paxton. "So, they're thinking, 'Let's see if we can take Newsmax off now.'"
AT&T and DirecTV's purging of Newsmax sparked outrage from a large cluster of congressional Republicans, along with conservative pundits and TV viewers across the country.
As such, Paxton suggests that AT&T might have picked a battle that wasn't worth fighting — especially since Newsmax ranks as the No. 4 news network (Nielsen TV ratings) and represents a top-20 overall channel in the cable landscape.
There's also the matter of DirecTV carrying 22 left-leaning networks on its cable system — many of which post significantly lower viewership ratings than Newsmax.
"I would encourage Congress to do the investigation" into AT&T's practices with respect to media fairness, said Paxton.
The state attorney general has also made similar recommendations to the Texas House and Senate chambers.
"I'm very concerned about censorship and viewership discrimination," said Paxton, while lamenting the Biden administration's track record with suppressing dissenting voices, most notably, those of conservatives.
"And that appears to be the same thing here," said Paxton.
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.
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