DirecTV’s Decision to Drop Newsmax: Political Bias or Cost-Cutting Measure?

AT&T’s DirecTV has abruptly cut off Newsmax’s signal, disconnecting the network from more than 13 million customers of DirecTV Stream and U-Verse. This marks the second time in the past year that AT&T has taken action to cancel a conservative channel, as DirecTV also deplatformed OAN in April. Despite being the fourth highest-rated cable news channel in the nation, with a strong viewership of 25 million Americans on cable alone, DirecTV claims it is taking this step as a “cost-cutting” measure and will not pay Newsmax a cable license fee. DirecTV pays cable license fees to the top 75 cable channels, as well as to all 22 liberal news and information channels it carries, many of which have lower ratings than Newsmax and are given significantly higher fees.  For more information, Lars spoke with Chris Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax. Take a listen below.