Republican senators and members of congress, along with former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, are taking AT&T’s DirecTV platform to task for kicking off the conservative news channel Newsmax.
U.S. Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), incoming Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Lindsey Graham (R-SC), incoming Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mike Lee (R-UT), and Tom Cotton (R-AR) today sent a letter to the CEOs of DirectTV and its controlling shareholders, AT&T and TPG, demanding more information about its decision to blacklist Newsmax.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (AP Photo/John Locher)
AT&T CEO John Stankey (Dave Kotinsky / Getty)
The letter notes DirecTV’s deplatforming of One America News last year, which came following pressure from Democrat members of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, which oversees the FCC.
“Congress and the public have a right to know the extent to which DirecTV’s decision to drop Newsmax was politically motivated, including whether the company succumbed to pressure from administration officials or Democrats in Congress,” said the Senators.
The Senators noted allegations that DirecTV pays hefty licensing fees to left-of-center channels with significantly smaller audiences than Newsmax, while refusing to pay any licensing fees to the conservative channel.
In the House, 18 Republican members of Congress spoke out in Newsmax’s defense, led by House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO).
“This is a clear case of free speech infringement and viewpoint discrimination. Government colluding with telecommunications giants should chill us all,” said Rep. Buck.
The other House members who lent their voices to the effort were: Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO), Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI), Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY), Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT), Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA), Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Rep. Mike Cloud (R-TX), Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX), Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC).
Donald Trump, who launched his third presidential campaign at Mar-a-Lago last year, pointed to DirecTV’s decision as another reason for Republicans to take back the White House in 2024.
“This is just one of many reasons why we must WIN IN 2024,” said Trump in a post on Truth Social.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis, touted as a presidential candidate in 2024, also slammed DirecTV’s decision.
“The reality is they [DirecTV] have so much other content that is very lightly viewed and yet they keep that on and it seems it’s the One America News and the Newsmax who are being targeted, so I think it does warrant investigation,” said DeSantis.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.
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