Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, in an interview with Newsmax, vowed to get answers on why AT&T DirecTV dropped Newsmax.
"The woke left, the Democrat Party, has teamed up with these big corporations, with big tech and big pharma," Babin said Thursday on "Wake Up America." "And here we are — Newsmax, the fourth most watched news outlet in the country on television, and they close you down.
"We're going to get to the bottom of that, I promise you. We've written letters. We've made telephone calls. We're demanding to have some answers. We're getting a lot of double talk coming back from DirecTV. You know as well as I do that AT&T owns 70% of DirectTV. I think a lot of people have already discontinued service."
DirecTV customers call toll free at 877-763-9762 to cancel/complain
DirecTV said Newsmax and OAN were removed as "cost-cutting" measures at the same time the company reported profits last year of $2.7 billion. This week DirecTV claimed Newsmax was demanding "excessive fees" that would cost 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," 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 continues to carry 22 left-leaning news channels, many with much lower ratings than Newsmax. Those channels get license 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.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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