A conservative media company that has been praised by former President Donald Trump has found itself on the outs with cable companies. Trump is lashing out at the those companies in the latest battle.
What Happened: One America News Network was launched in July 2013 and has been widely recognized as a “far-right” and “pro-Trump” cable channel.
The network has been removed from several cable companies’ packages, including DirecTV, which is majority owned by AT&T Inc (NYSE:T).
“Time Warner, the owner of Fake News CNN, has just announced that they will be terminating a very popular and wonderful news network (OAN),” Trump said in a statement. “Between heavily indebted Time Warner, and Radical Left Comcast, which runs Xfinity, there is a virtual monopoly on news, thereby making what you hear from the LameStream Media largely FAKE, hence the name FAKE NEWS!” he declared.
Trump's criticism was targeted mainly at Time Warner, a unit of AT&T, but also hit at Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA), which Trump also called “terrible and expensive.”
“Demand that OAN be allowed to stay on the air," he said. "It is far bigger and more popular than anyone knows, and importantly, it represents the voice of a very large group of people!”
DirecTV informed OAN earlier this year it would not renew a carriage deal, and the channel is set to be removed from the package next month.
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Why It’s Important: The statements from Trump come as he has launched his own media company called Trump Media & Technology Group, which is going public with Digital World Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:DWAC).
The new Trump company launched TRUTH Social, a new social media platform aimed at taking on Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:FB) unit Facebook. In the presentation for the SPAC deal, Trump Media & Technology said it planned on launching a traditional media outlet to take on networks like CNN.
YouTube, a unit of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)(NASDAQ:GOOGL) previously suspended OAN for violating its coronavirus misinformation policy.
OAN has filed a lawsuit against AT&T and DirecTV. The lawsuit showed that AT&T has an exclusive deal to sell commercials for OAN through a subsidiary. OAN is seeking $1 billion in damages in the lawsuit, which alleges politics played into a decision to remove the network from DirecTV.
The court records unveiled that 90% of OAN’s revenue comes from relationships with AT&T and DirecTV.
OAN being dropped by the cable companies could hurt the company going forward, as it depends on carriage deals to ensure viewership and advertising revenue.
“These allegations are completely without merit,” AT&T said in a statement.
AT&T stated it has never had a financial interest in OAN’s success. AT&T’s subsidiary Xandr gets a commission on commercials aired on OAN, according to the lawsuit and a Reuters report. Xandr is being acquired by Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), a deal that is said not to include the portion of the company that helps in selling commercials for DirecTV or OAN.
AT&T is expected to continue to be the advertising partner for OAN even after the DirecTV deal ends, with an expiration date in 2024.
Price Action: AT&T shares are trading flat at $23.25 on Wednesday, versus a range of $22.02 to $33.88 over the last 52-weeks.
Photo: Courtesy of Gage Skidmore on Flickr
