DirecTV’s feud with conservative network Newsmax, which became bitter when the small channel enlisted the support of Republican politicians, is coming to an end as Newsmax returns to programming for satellite TV customers.

The two companies announced a ceasefire on Wednesday after reaching a new distribution deal that will restore Newsmax to DirecTV customers’ homes this week

23-03-2023

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El Segundo-based DirecTV has long maintained that dropping Newsmax at the end of January was strictly a business decision, which came only after the controversial Boca Raton, Fla., channel failed in its attempts to play hard during carriage negotiations.

But Newsmax protested DirecTV’s removal, claiming censorship based on its politics. On air and online, Newsmax complained without evidence that DirecTV’s actions were driven by contempt for conservatives.

Although the channel’s viewership is low, Newsmax has high-ranking Republican friends.

Members of Congress, eager to appear on the channel that has become a cheerleader for right-wing causes, called for investigative hearings on DirecTV’s action. Former President Trump whose rallies bring Newsmax the highest ratings called the move disgusting and urged people to cancel their subscriptions to DirecTV and AT&T’s mobile network. AT&T co-owns DirecTV.

But this week, Newsmax’s chief praised DirecTV.

“Newsmax recognizes and appreciates that DirecTV clearly supports diverse voices, including conservative ones,” Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax, said in the statement. “DirecTV helped get Newsmax off the ground nearly a decade ago, just as it continues to do with emerging news networks, and so we’re pleased to have come to a mutually beneficial agreement.”

Newsmax returns to the traditional satellite TV platform, as well as U-verse and the digital DirecTV Stream service.

Other terms of the distribution agreement were not disclosed.

DirecTV executives were outraged by Newsmax’s censorship claims, noting that the previous agreement expired in January and that DirecTV had no legal permission to continue broadcasting the channel.

Executives felt they were unfairly tarnished for trying to control costs for DirecTV’s 13 million consumers

most of whom don’t watch Newsmax

. at a time when traditional pay TV distributors

including DirecTV,

struggling to retain customers in the streaming age.

DirecTV had offered Newsmax to its subscribers since the channel’s launch in 2014, but it did not pay a fee to Newsmax as the distributor does for other more established networks, including Fox News.

Before negotiations derailed in January, DirecTV had said it was willing to keep Newsmax on its programming on the same terms without any compensation. DirecTV argued that Newsmax programming was available everywhere for free as a streaming app and on a free ad-supported streaming TV channel from Roku, Pluto TV and other platforms.

But Newsmax wanted DirecTV to pay it about $1 per home subscriber per month.

When asked if DirecTV had agreed to compensate Newsmax, a DirecTV spokesperson said the company was satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations and that

A spokesperson for DirecTV said the channel will be offered “at no additional cost to our customers”.

Newsmax joins five other news channels offered by DirecTV: CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NewsNation, and the First (which was added after Newsmax was removed from the lineups).

“This resolution with Newsmax, resolving an all-too-common transportation dispute, underscores our commitment to providing our customers with a broad range of programming and perspectives,” Bill Morrow, CEO of DirecTV, said in the joint statement.

“Through our ongoing negotiations, we have reached a resolution on mutually acceptable business terms that will allow us to provide the conservative news network at the right price, reflecting the free market at work,” Morrow said.

Dominion Voting Systems has sued Newsmax, One America News Network and Fox News over allegations that it promoted false claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent. Staff writer Stephen Battaglio contributed to this report.