Issuing an unvarnished threat to DirecTV on Friday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) claimed he told the pay-TV provider to quickly bring pro-Trump channel Newsmax back to its lineup—“or else.”
Comer’s unsubtle attempt at government interference comes less than a month after he promised to investigate DirecTV for dropping the conservative network last month. While Newsmax and its Republican allies have relentlessly accused the satellite carrier of “political discrimination” by “censoring” right-wing speech, DirecTV has said the channel is peddling “false claims” over a standard business dispute stemming from Newsmax’s demands for increased license fees.
“I’m very concerned,” Comer said Friday on Newsmax’s John Bachman Now. “I’m very upset that DirecTV does not have Newsmax on there. I’ve been in constant communication with the leadership at AT&T and DirecTV. I have strongly encouraged them to meet with your CEO, Mr. [Chris] Ruddy, to get this worked out or else!”
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Saying his GOP colleagues on the House Oversight Committee are “very passionate” about the situation, Comer wondered if DirecTV and AT&T executives “really want to go in front of” his committee considering how Republicans have treated witnesses in recent hearings.
“We’re all huge fans of Newsmax,” Comer declared. “We don’t like to see Newsmax not being offered on DirecTV, especially considering Newsmax is the, I think, the fourth highest-rated news show on TV now.”
He continued: “And they have dozens of other news shows that have much lower ratings than Newsmax. So I’m doing everything in my ability to see that this gets worked out. If it doesn’t, then I would expect the Republican majority to begin to take steps to take action in this. Again, this is private companies, we don’t want to see this happen.”
Likely realizing that this could lead to accusations of government overreach by Republicans on behalf of a preferred media company, Newsmax anchor John Bachman added: “But they started it, congressman, they started it.”
Asked whether there was a deadline for his “ultimatum,” Comer claimed he will meet with DirecTV leaders next week and that his House Oversight colleagues are “chomping at the bit to get them in front of the committee.”
DirecTV, for its part, has repeatedly stated that its decision to drop Newsmax last month was purely economic. The channel had long been aired for free on the cable service but recently demanded fees that would total tens of millions of dollars, which DirecTV said it would then be forced to pass on to its subscribers. Additionally, DirecTV balked over the fee request as Newsmax currently streams for free on other platforms, such as Roku and YouTube, as well as its own app.
Not all right-leaning outlets buy Newsmax’s claims that DirecTV is “de-platforming” the network as part of a campaign to “silence” conservative voices. The Wall Street Journal editorial board lambasted GOP politicians for parroting Newsmax’s complaints, calling it “bewildering” while labeling the attempt at political coercion “distasteful.”
Despite all of Newsmax’s accusations against the company, DirecTV is still leaving the door open to bringing the network back under the right financial terms, saying “our goal is to get our customers back to their regularly scheduled programming.”
