That escalated quickly.
DirecTV announced Thursday it will replace Newsmax with another right-wing TV station. Word of the satellite service provider’s new partnership comes after Newsmax — which was dropped from DirecTV’s lineup at the stroke of midnight Wednesday — whined it was a victim of “political discrimination and censorship.”
“DIRECTV will launch conservative opinion and commentary network The First across all three of its video services ... very soon,” DirecTV said in a statement.
Fox News castaway Bill O’Reilly and Donald Trump sycophant Liz Wheeler, formerly of OAN, lead The First’s lineup of talent, which also includes former Breitbart editor Dana Loesch. Adding insult to injury, The Daily Beast reports The First will take over the very channel formerly occupied by Newsmax.
“On multiple occasions, we made it clear to Newsmax that we wanted to continue to offer the network, but ultimately Newsmax’s demands for rate increases would have led to significantly higher costs that we would have to pass on to our broad customer base,” DirecTV told the Daily News on Wednesday.
Newsmax spun the unsuccessful negotiations differently.
“This is a blatant act of political discrimination and censorship against Newsmax,” the network’s CEO Christopher Ruddy claimed.
Former President Trump called DirectTV’s split with Newsmax “disgusting” on social media, blaming the “Radical Left” for the separation. Donald Trump Jr. called for a boycott on Twitter. Numerous Republican congressmen signed a letter urging DirecTV and its parent company AT&T to explain its decision before learning a new conservative network would replace Newsmax.
DirecTV Chief Content Officer Rob Thun celebrated his company’s “multi-year commitment” to The First in a statement.
“DIRECTV values different viewpoints and perspectives and will always work to preserve expansive choice among a wide variety of entertainment and information services to appeal to the unique tastes and interests of our diverse customer base,” Thun said Thursday.
A DirecTV representative declined to detail differences between what was offered to The First and Newsmax, but said, “The First will not put undue financial pressure” on the satellite provider’s customers.
Newsmax remains available on platforms including You Tube and Roku, as well as its own website.
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