Right-Wing News Monopoly Alleged by Newsmax in Lawsuit Against Fox News
In a surprising turn of events, Newsmax has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Fox News, accusing the media giant of engaging in anti-competitive practices. The lawsuit, first filed in Florida on August 15, alleges that Fox's anticompetitive behavior has prevented Newsmax from achieving greater pay TV distribution.
The complaint states that Fox's exclusionary scheme has harmed consumers, competition, and Newsmax Broadcasting. The lawsuit lists at least three anti-competitive tactics used by Fox News, but does not specify what these tactics are in this paragraph.
Fox is accused of imposing "no-carry" provisions on distributors, conditioning access to its content on not carrying other right-leaning news channels like Newsmax. Additionally, Fox employs contractual barriers in its carriage agreements to prevent Newsmax from competing, which constitute unlawful restraints of trade. Fox also imposes financial penalties on distributors if they carry Newsmax, requiring them to pay high fees for Fox's little-watched channels.
The lawsuit by Newsmax against Fox News comes amidst a backdrop of legal troubles for both broadcasters. Both Fox and Newsmax have faced legal troubles for reporting on unsubstantiated claims spread by Trump's followers during the 2020 presidential election. Fox recently settled with Dominion Voting Systems over a similar lawsuit. Newsmax, on the other hand, has settled with Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems over lawsuits related to spreading voting machine conspiracy theories.
Interestingly, despite Trump's lawsuit against its founder Rupert Murdoch, Fox was Trump's first love in terms of news broadcasters. However, this summer, Trump promoted Newsmax on his social media platform, Truth Social. One of Donald Trump's favorite news broadcasters, Newsmax, is now suing Fox News, alleging that Fox News abused its position to keep out smaller competitors, specifically Newsmax.
Fox News denies the allegations, stating that Newsmax is chasing headlines due to its competitive failures. However, the lawsuit claims that Newsmax would have seen its audience and ratings grow sooner, gained critical mass for major advertisers, and become a more valuable media property, were it not for Fox's anticompetitive behavior.
This lawsuit adds another layer to the ongoing saga between these two prominent news broadcasters. As the case unfolds, it will be interesting to see how this impacts the media landscape and the competition between these two major players.
