Since officially being dropped by DirecTV, the channel’s biggest revenue source by far, conspiratorial far-right cable channel One America News has faced an existential crisis.
Talent has bolted in droves, morale is low, and billion-dollar lawsuits loom over the network’s election lies. CEO Robert Herring Sr. begged viewers to call other providers to carry the cartoonishly MAGA network and even floated a bizarre rumor that Elon Musk would buy it (Musk quickly shot that down).
And the bad news could get even worse: OAN might lose its largest remaining pay-TV carrier in Verizon Fios. The provider, which had only 3.7 million subscribers as of last fall, notified customers that OAN and the Herrings’ lifestyle channel AWE may be gone at the end of the month.
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“Verizon’s agreement with Herring Networks (Herring), the owner of One America News (OAN) and A Wealth of Entertainment (AWE), ends on July 30, 2022. We have been negotiating terms for a new agreement with Herring,” read the notice posted to Verizon’s site, as liberal watchdog Media Matters first noted on Wednesday.
“OAN and AWE will remain on Fios TV through July 30, and we will provide a notice on this website and the Fios TV Message Center of any changes that may be made after that date. Please check back for updates.”
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If OAN gets the boot, the only way to watch it in the U.S. would be via the Alaska-based General Communications Inc. (which has little more than 100,000 subscribers and may completely ditch cable TV for streaming) or little-known digital carriers KlowdTV and Vidgo.
According to industry site NextTV, after getting axed from DirecTV, OAN only netted about $550,000 a month in pay-TV carriage fees—most of which came from Fios.
“I’m trying to leave ASAP,” one current OAN staffer told Confider, adding that management has been silent on a possible Fios exit. Another insider noted that OAN has recently pushed for more digital content that will “go viral” on social media.
OAN did not respond to requests for comment.
Following the publication of this article, a Verizon spokesperson noted that while there had been “no update” to OAN’s status with Fios TV, the company wanted “to share an update that we've signed a contract with Newsmax and are pleased to continue to offer their content to our customers.”
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