DIRECTV and Newsmax Media, Inc. announced today that they reached a business agreement for a multi-year distribution deal that will return the Newsmax channel to DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM and U-verse on March 23, 2023.
When the two companies were initially unable to agree on financial terms to extend their carriage agreement, DIRECTV lost the rights to distribute the programming on Jan 25, 2023. Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence in the pay TV industry, and often consumers are caught in the middle.
“Newsmax recognizes and appreciates that DIRECTV clearly supports diverse voices, including conservative ones,” said Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax. “As a standalone company, DIRECTV gave Newsmax its start nearly a decade ago as it continues to do with upcoming news networks, which is why we are pleased to reach a mutually beneficial agreement that will deliver our network to DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM and U-verse customers over the next several years.”
“This resolution with Newsmax, resolving an all-too-common carriage dispute, underscores our dedication to delivering a wide array of programming and perspectives to all our customers,” said Bill Morrow, Chief Executive Officer for DIRECTV.
“Through our persistent negotiations, we reached a resolution under mutually-agreeable business terms allowing us to deliver the conservative news network at the right value – a reflection of the free market at work.”
Newsmax will be available to DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM and U-verse at no additional cost to customers, rejoining the expanded diversified news lineup, which now includes six 24/7 news networks – CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Newsmax, NewsNation, and The First.
This agreement marks DIRECTV’s latest successful resolution of a carriage dispute, an unfortunate but increasingly frequent occurrence involving nearly every pay TV and streaming provider attempting to keep rising consumer costs in check. Over the past five years alone, the industry has endured no less than 140 distinct disputes pitting programmers or station groups against their primary distributors. While some resolve in as little as a few hours to days or weeks, others last several months to more than a year.
During that same timeframe, DIRECTV has resolved public disputes with approximately 50 programmers or station groups, typically lasting a few days or weeks, but routinely extending to several months in some instances.
It seems to me that DirecTV began to lose subscribers by the thousands from their banishment of Newsmax. Their bottom line was suffering greatly, so they had to bring back one of the most popular news networks, against their will! Viewers prefer actual news rather than the garbage offered by CNN, MSNBC, and the like!
I didn’t realize Directv was still around.
I’m glad that everyone stood up to this woke company!! Years ago we did this all the time and it did keep companies and everyone else in check. It’s much harder now because the people running these companies are the product of a woke education!! It’s a sickness within our society that has to be rooted out and it’s going to take a very long time to do it!!!
This sounds like as part of the agreement Newsmax must praise Direct TV. Now I am certainly glad Newsmax is back on the air and non censored due to woke propaganda but tell it like it is. Tell us that it is part of the contract to defend Direct. There is still no OAN but CNN is safe. I might keep my satellite provider for now because they brought back my favorite news channel but for heaven’s sakes tell us the truth. I say CNN needs to be off Direct to save money for a decent news station
Why is OAN not on air. I still get it but it was not fair that Verizon and Direct TV dropped them. They speak the truth and are true Patriots. Maybe that was the problem. No one should be taken off air because they tell the truth. How about going after the lying cable news. I watched a clip when Joe Scarbough went off the rails. He sounded like a Nazi Sergeant with his arrogant ways. He and his wife, I would never watch.