Anticipate a smooth broadcasting year for Newsmax without a recurrence of carrier disputes like the one experienced with DirecTV. The network has successfully secured agreements with various carriers, guaranteeing uninterrupted access to their programming.
Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy has officially confirmed that the network has successfully secured contract renewals with all of its major operators.
“By the end of 2023, we have signed renewals with all of our major operators—Comcast, Charter, DirecTV, DISH and Verizon Fios,” Ruddy said. “When I started this a while back, people said they weren’t going to let any new channels on cable any more. And we’ve basically, I think, been accepted and are now a member of the club. I think we’re here to stay.”
Almost all renewals have been successfully completed, and Newsmax has expanded its reach to approximately 5 million more households. When questioned about the potential influence of it being an election year on carriage renewals, Ruddy expressed uncertainty.
However, he did share his thoughts on the profound impact that his longtime friend, Donald Trump, has had.
“I think President Trump has added great difficulty to Newsmax because there’s so much hostility in the industry and world against him. The media establishment, but also in the cable industry, he’s not a really liked figure. We were having more success I felt before he was elected in 2016. I think we probably would have gotten more carriage earlier had he not been elected,” Ruddy added.
“It sort of threw a monkey wrench in because a lot of people felt we were we were going to be Trump TV. I think most of the cable operators took us and renewed us because if they look at the coverage… they’ll see that you know we are fair. We try to reach out to both sides. While we have a lot of pro-Trump stuff, we also have people like Rick Santorum. He has been you know very critical of him through the years and he’s now our leading political adviser… Our night leads with Greta Van Susteren, and she’s not a polarizing figure.”
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
