Newsmax

A judge has scheduled a major defamation case against right-wing cable channel Newsmax to go to trial in late September, putting the battle over 2020 election lies front-and-center at the peak of the 2024 campaign. Newsmax and the voting technology company Smartmatic could still reach an out-of-court settlement, and further delays are possible. But if the Sept. 24 trial date holds, the fallout from former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election will be on full display as he tries to return to the White House.

Before and after the investment, senior newsroom leaders urged Newsmax staff to soften coverage of Qatar, current and former employees say.

Newsmax is clashing with the Republican National Committee after the conservative, Trump-friendly channel wasn’t able to co-sponsor one of the first four GOP presidential primary debates. The dispute is a view into the delicate and at times fraught negotiations over the debates, which can propel or depress a candidacy — and add prestige and viewers to networks that sponsor them.

Multiple Newsmax staffers have reported a top executive for sexual harassment, sources told Mediaite. Still, that executive, Newsmax’s vice president of programming Chris Knowles, remains at the conservative cable news network.

Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Newsmax over the right-wing cable network’s airing of 2020 election lies is scheduled to go to trial in late September 2024, a Delaware judge decided.

A Delaware judge on Wednesday rejected Newsmax’s attempt to throw out part of a defamation case brought by the election technology company Smartmatic against the right-wing network. Smartmatic sued Newsmax after the network repeatedly aired false claims about the 2020 election — specifically the lie that the company’s software was involved in an international plot to rig the presidential election against Donald Trump. The company later updated its lawsuit to add 26 additional examples of alleged defamation, claiming it found the new material during the discovery process, when Newsmax turned over “hundreds of hours” of broadcasts.

If Vivek Ramaswamy wants to appear on Newsmax, he should pay to do it. That was the message that network chief Chris Ruddy delivered to the Republican presidential candidate during a private call earlier this summer, according to two people to whom the candidate described the conversation. Ramaswamy had complained that the right-leaning network was sticking him in little-watched midday slots or ignoring him outright.

Average viewership at Newsmax more than doubled in the second quarter and was higher than after the 2020 election.

Senior vice president of ad sales at Newsmax, Jim Tremblay, has been promoted to executive vice president and chief revenue officer of sales.

Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News laid bare how the network communicated behind the scenes about broadcasting 2020 election misinformation, ultimately leading the network to fork over a massive settlement. Newsmax could be next, as voting technology company Smartmatic has subpoenaed several of the right-wing cable network’s current and former employees for work and personal correspondence.

CNN shrugged off and even scolded critics of the Donald Trump town hall it aired on May 10. But while the network is still obstinately standing by that event, viewers, it turns out, aren’t standing by the network. The town hall initially gave CNN a rare primetime win, with 3.3 million viewers tuning in, firmly making it number one in ratings among the other cable news networks. But just two days later, primetime viewership cratered, putting CNN in fourth place behind shoestring-budgeted right-wing outlet Newsmax.

The niche conservative news channel is still small compared with Fox News, but its viewership has doubled and in some time slots even tripled since Tucker Carlson was dismissed.

Frontier Communications has become the latest pay TV operator to drop/lose carriage of far right channel Newsmax. “Our contract with Newsmax TV expired and we made the business decision not to renew our agreement,” Frontier said in a statement on its website. The telecom, which reported 306,000 remaining TV/video customers at the end of 2022, also said that it has stopped carrying Fuse Media channels Fuse and FM.

DirecTV has reached a carriage deal with conservative news outlet Newsmax, ending two months of media industry acrimony that spilled into Washington. Under the new multi-year deal, Newsmax will return Thursday to DirecTV satellite systems, DirecTV Stream internet bundles and U-verse cable. With about 13 million subscribers, DirecTV is one of the top pay-TV providers in the U.S.

Even in today’s highly partisan media world, experts said, the lack of coverage about the private comments of Fox’s top executives and hosts stands out.

The conservative news channel, which disappeared from DirecTV’s airwaves in January amid a dispute over carriage fees, has enlisted former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) and longtime GOP aide Tommy Andrews of Squire Patton Boggs to escalate its fight in Washington, according to newly filed lobbying disclosures.

DirecTV has responded to GOP senators’ requests to explain its decision to drop the conservative news network Newsmax, saying the cut was part of a “routine” business dispute after criticism that the move was political.

FCC nominee Gigi Sohn said she thinks the agency should investigate DirecTV’s deplatforming of right-leaning cable news channels Newsmax and One America News Network. That came in a back-and-forth with Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) Tuesday during Sohn’s third confirmation hearing before that committee.

hree weeks into its carriage dispute with Newsmax, DirecTV has called out the ultra-conservative media company for using its “news/editorial platform” to wage what it views as simply a business negotiation. “It’s troubling that Newsmax is using its news/editorial platform to publish inaccurate and misleading information regarding our contract dispute,” wrote Michael Hartman, DirecTV general counsel and chief external affairs officer.

Under siege from Republicans and conservatives, DirecTV on Sunday said it was still interested in bringing back right-wing news channel Newsmax. DirecTV dropped Newsmax prompting concerns among some lawmakers about censorship and conservative views being stifled. The satellite company seemed to be extending an olive branch on its website, where it made a statement concerning Newsmax. DirecTV remained adamant that it will not pay the license fee that Newsmax is demanding.

DirecTV is getting more pressure — this time from a group of Senate Republicans — over its decision to drop the conservative Newsmax network after a carriage agreement expired. In response to the DirecTV move and Newsmax complaints, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee; Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; Mike Lee (R-Utah); and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) wrote the CEOs of DirecTV and parents AT&T and TPG Capital, voicing concerns and “demanding” answers.

DirecTV stopped carrying Newsmax when an extension of their carriage agreement expired at 11:59 p.m. ET Tuesday in a move that could have repercussions in Washington. DirecTV, one of the first distributors to carry Newsmax, said it ceased carrying Newsmax because the conservative news network was seeking a carriage fee after being available free previously.

Conservative news network Newsmax might be dropped from DirecTV this week, in a move that Republican lawmakers are saying they would investigate although the pay-TV provider said the motivation is saving costs. DirecTV says it has been carrying Newsmax on its satellite TV service, DirecTV Stream and U-verse platforms at no cost to customers because Newsmax has not been charging a fee to carry the channel. That allows Newsmax the ability to generate advertising revenue. “However the network is now seeking significant fees that we would have to pass on to our broad customer base,” DirecTV said.

The day after Lara Logan’s unhinged rant on Newsmax about a Satanic “global cabal” that must be defeated by White Christians, the far-right news network has banned her from its airwaves. On Eric Bolling’s show on Wednesday night, she began regurgitating Q-Anon talking points, including the racist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, insisting she had proof of a worldwide plan to fully implement in the United States. That escalated to talk of Satan and non-Republicans who “dine on the blood of children.”

The new agreement extends distribution of the cable news channel in HD on Verizon Fios.

Newsmax has broadcast at least 40 false claims or conspiracy theories about the attack since June, when a House committee began televising its evidence about the role former President Donald Trump and his allies played in the day’s events, according to NewsGuard, a tech firm that monitors misinformation.

The veteran broadcaster will host The Record beginning June 14.

Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy says if you don’t actually watch Newsmax, you probably think his network is something it’s not. “Newsmax is not One America,” Ruddy says, dismissing any suggestion that Newsmax should be lumped together with One America News, the far-right network that’s become a favorite of former President Donald Trump.

Right-wing U.S. television network Newsmax Media on Monday countersued Smartmatic Corp., an election security firm that says it was defamed by Newsmax’s coverage of the 2020 presidential election. Smartmatic sued Newsmax in November for amplifying false claims that Smartmatic voting machines rigged the election against then-President Donald Trump, who persists in falsely claiming his defeat was the result of fraud.

While the focus has been on its conservative programming rival One America News and its recent carriage struggles, Newsmax has also quietly lost distribution on a number of pay TV systems in recent weeks. It’s unclear as to whether the carriage disruptions are part of an expiration of a master carriage deal Newsmax originally signed back in 2015 with the National Cable TV Cooperative, which negotiates carriage agreements for around 700 member companies.