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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CN) — In a battle of the right-leaning news giants, Newsmax on Wednesday accused Fox News of violating antitrust laws by pressuring cable TV and streaming distributors to not carry its rival outlet.
In a 31-page complaint, filed in the Southern District of Florida against Fox Corporation and Fox News Network, Newsmax referenced “no carry” provisions and financial penalties if distributors carry the channel by “requiring the distributors to carry and pay high fees for Fox’s little-watched channels like Fox Business.”
“Fox Corporation has long engaged in an exclusionary scheme to increase and maintain its dominance in the market for U.S. right-leaning pay TV news, resulting in suppression of competition in that market that harms consumers, competition, and Newsmax Broadcasting,” Newsmax claims in its lawsuit.
Newsmax blames its smaller market share and lack of major advertisers on Fox News’ anticompetitive behavior, claiming it’s being prevented from becoming “a more valuable media property.”
The right-wing cable news outlet says Fox has blocked Newsmax from platforms like Fubo, Sling TV and Hulu.
“Newsmax is far from the only victim,” the outlet says in its complaint. “Defendants’ anticompetitive conduct impedes competition in the entire right-leaning pay TV news market, deprives consumers of genuine choice and increases the cost consumers must bear to access right-leaning news.”
A Fox News spokesperson scoffed at the lawsuit. “Newsmax cannot sue their way out of their own competitive failures in the marketplace to chase headlines simply because they can’t attract viewers," the spokesperson said in a statement.
Fox News has long dominated the cable TV news market, though Newsmax has gained ground slowly since its 1998 inception. In August, the network boasted 26 million quarterly viewers. In the lawsuit, Newsmax says Fox views the upstart outlet as a threat, referencing past remarks by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and owner Rupert Murdoch.
Newsmax also claims Fox did more than just unfairly compete by using exclusionary agreements with distributors: the news giant hired law firms and private detectives to smear Newsmax executives, according to the lawsuit.
Newsmax seeks an injunction on Fox’s exclusionary agreements and unspecified damages. Two law firms specializing in antitrust litigation, Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel and Frederick, and Sperling Kenny Nachwalter, represent Newsmax.
“Fox may have profited from exclusionary contracts and intimidation tactics for years, but those days are over,” Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy said in a statement. “This lawsuit is about restoring fairness to the market and ensuring that Americans have real choice in the news they watch. If we prevail, Fox’s damages could be tripled under federal law — an outcome that would send a powerful message to any company that thinks it can monopolize public discourse.”
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