Well, would you looky here: Newsmax TV is back on DirecTV after all. Turns out all that mudslinging was mere posturing and negotiating, just like we said. How silly.
Newsmax TV will return to DirecTV, DirecTV Stream, and U-verse on Thursday on its prior home, Channel 349. Financial terms of the carriage agreement were not disclosed, but DirecTV said it is not passing along additional cost to their customers. DirecTV booted NewsMax January 25 when they could not agree on an extension to their carriage deal. That led to an epic battle, one that included Newsmax accusing DirecTV of antisemitism.
The business spat devolved into a back-and-forth between leaders in the Jewish community, including Alan Dershowitz and Sen. Joseph Lieberman. First, Bryan Leib (self-described “Newsmax insider”) assembled a team of “two dozen prominent Jews” to sign a letter to DirecTV expressing “serious concerns” about the removal of Newsmax.
The letter provided to the Jewish News Syndicate pled: “As leaders in our community, we represent millions of Jewish Americans. Newsmax has been a crucial way for us to reach our fellow Americans to share our perspectives on antisemitism, anti-Zionism, the State of Israel and other matters important to our community.”
In response, DirecTV brought together its own Jewish community leaders, including five rabbis, to sign a retaliatory letter that in part, reminds everyone it distributes the Jewish Broadcasting Service. Read that letter here.
Well, everyone’s singing a totally different tune today. Ah, harmony.
“Newsmax recognizes and appreciates that DirecTV clearly supports diverse voices, including conservative ones,” Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax, said Wednesday as part of the parties’ joint announcement. “As a standalone company, DirecTV helped give 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.”
OK Chris, whatever you say.
“This resolution with Newsmax, resolving an all-too-common carriage dispute, underscores our dedication to delivering a wide array of programming and perspectives to our customers,” added Bill Morrow, the CEO of 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.”
As we previously reported, Newsmax TV’s replacement, the also-right-leaning The First, will remain on DirecTV. The First was double-programmed into the old Newsmax TV channel, 349, and Channel 347. It will remain in 347.
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