Roughly 48 hours after Newsmax launched a lawsuit against Fox News, the case has been dismissed by a U.S. District Judge.
Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the lawsuit on Friday afternoon. However, the dismissal was without prejudice, meaning that Newsmax could re-file the case in the same court or attempt to take the case away from the Southern District of Florida. The case was dismissed by Cannon for what she called duplicative causes of action.
The complaint from Newsmax alleged that Fox had leveraged its dominance to coerce distributors into restrictive agreements that exclude or marginalize rival channels. The lawsuit detailed a range of what it labeled as exclusionary tactics. These included “no-carry” provisions that tied access to Fox News with restrictions on carrying competing news networks, financial penalties that required distributors to carry Fox channels like FS1 and Fox Business Network if they also carry Newsmax, and confidential drag-down clauses that penalize the promotion of Newsmax in basic packages.
“Fox’s behavior represents a textbook abuse of monopoly power,” said Michael J. Guzman, an attorney for Newsmax at the time of the filing. “Competition, not coercion, should determine what news channels Americans can watch. Fox has blocked new voices, suppressed consumer choice, and extracted excess profits.”
The lawsuit launched a war of words between the two cable entities. A Fox News spokesperson told Barrett Media, “Newsmax cannot sue their way out of their own competitive failures in the marketplace to chase headlines simply because they can’t attract viewers.”
In response, the cable channel founded by Chris Ruddy retorted by stating, “If Newsmax was such a ratings failure, why has FOX spent so much time, energy, and resources to suppress us, block us, and denigrate us?” a network spokesperson shared. “The answer is obvious. Also please note that FOX in its statement does not deny any of our serious allegations.”
Newsmax has shared its intention to ammend its lawsuit, which Judge Cannon shared must be done by Thursday, September 11th.
“We understand this is just a technical matter and our law firm is refiling,” a Newsmax spokesperson said in a statement.
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