You may have seen a lot of talk about DIRECTV and Newsmax fighting resulting in DIRECTV & DIRECTV STREAM dropping Newsmax. Now according to Newsmax, we have learned exactly what the two companies are fighting over.
So what has Newsmax demanded? Roughly $1 a year per subscriber or about $0.0833 a month. The most recent subscriber numbers we have for DIRECTV have them at about 13.5 million subscribers as of the 3rd quarter of 2022. So this would mean DIRECTV would have to pay Newsmax about $13.5 every year to air the channel.
We do not know what DIRECTV has been paying Newsmax in the past but recently, DIRECTV released a statement again saying they will be open to bringing Newsmax back if the deal was right.
Here is the full statement from DIRECTV:
DIRECTV REMAINS INTERESTED IN BRINGING NEWSMAX BACK
DIRECTV aims to deliver the best, widest range of news, sports, and entertainment programming at a fair price. We regularly engage in negotiations with content providers and work hard to protect our customers from unfair price inflation.
Our differences with Newsmax are economic, not political or ideological. Newsmax made unreasonable demands that would force DIRECTV customers to fund the network’s shift from a free nationwide streaming service to one that will require a pay TV subscription. Since we would not agree to Newsmax’s demand to pay them tens of millions of dollars in licensing fees, DIRECTV was no longer permitted by Newsmax to air its content.
DIRECTV is disappointed by Newsmax’s position. We prefer Newsmax had never left and remain interested in bringing Newsmax back under the right financial terms.
A WIDE RANGE OF PERSPECTIVES
DIRECTV provides news programming options that reflect all voices – including the new, recently launched conservative network The First – across all three of our video services: DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM and U-verse. The First features leading conservative voices in America, including influential hosts Bill O’Reilly, Dana Loesch, Liz Wheeler and Jesse Kelly, and offers live news coverage, original shows and documentaries.
The question now is can the two companies DIRECTV and Newsmax reach a deal to bring Newsmax back to DIRECTV.