The decision by DirecTV to remove Newsmax from its channel offerings continues to be a divisive one.
Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy claimed the satellite provider’s goal was to censor the channel. Congressman Michael Waltz (R-FL) said if that’s the case, public hearings could be on the table.
Waltz was one of the Republican Congressmen to co-sign a letter to DirecTV admonishing the company for its removal of Newsmax. The letter — authored by Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) — took issue with a perceived preference by the company to continue airing “liberal news channels”, naming Vice News specifically, but “de-platforming” of conservative channels like OAN and Newsmax.
“We have a number of questions in that letter that we’ll demand answers for,” Waltz told Newsmax host Rob Finnerty during Wake Up America Thursday. “It could go so far as to have their executives come to talk to us and explain this to us in terms of both the timing and intent. And it could go as far as having public hearings. I think the public hearings should be part this a broader effort from the left to essentially snap everybody in line with their view, their way of thinking, or you can’t get access to anything you need to actually function as a company or a business.”
DirecTV has claimed it denied demands from Newsmax for a carriage rate increase, saying it “would have led to significantly higher costs that we would have to pass on to our broad customer base”.
Ruddy claimed in an interview with Howie Carr that the satellite provider currently pays the channel nothing, and was told in negotiations that DirecTV said “We’re not gonna pay you a dime. We’re not gonna pay you a penny. We’re paying you nothing.”
