Based in El Segundo, Ca., DirectTV said Wednesday it has reached “a mutually beneficial business agreement” with Newsmax to renew distribution of the channel on its satellite and streaming service.
“Our successful negotiation with Newsmax was based on economics and protecting our customers from higher costs — not politics or ideology,” the company said in a statement.
DirecTV, which reaches about 13 million subscribers, did not release terms of the multiyear agreement but said its programming would return without additional cost to customers.
Newsmax, based in Boca Raton, Fla., is carried on cable, reaching around 50 million households, and can be accessed via an online stream. But distribution by DirecTV is important because it gives the network another broad platform in which to sell advertising.
DirecTV had said in its negotiations with Newsmax that it was willing to continue carrying the channel without paying a cash fee for it. But Newsmax held out for direct compensation.
Launched in 2014 by entrepreneur Christopher Ruddy, Newsmax has often veered to the right of Fox News in its coverage and commentary. It employs several hosts who became well known on Fox, such as commentator Eric Bolling and Sean Spicer, President Trump’s former press secretary.
Its ratings spiked at the end of 2020, after Trump expressed his dismay with Fox News’s coverage of his false claims that the presidential election was stolen.
Its popularity began to wane, however, during 2021 as President Biden assumed office.
Newsmax could not be reached for comment Wednesday morning.
