One America News Network to lose DirecTV carriage : NPR
By: NPR. org
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Matthew S. Schwartz
DirecTV is dropping One America News Network from its lineup, a surprise move that's sure to deal a massive blow to the network that rose to prominence during the presidency of Donald Trump.
Bloomberg reported Friday that the satellite TV provider notified the owner of OAN, Herring Networks Inc., that it would no longer carry the company's two channels when their contract expires. The other channel, A Wealth of Entertainment, dubs itself a lifestyle channel that features luxury goods.
In a statement, DirecTV said it made the decision "following a routine internal review." A DirecTV spokesperson told NPR that the company looks at a wide variety of factors in deciding whether to renew a contract. The question for DirecTV was whether OAN's programming appeals to a broad enough base of customers, given increasing programming costs and more competition for consumers.
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Ultimately, the spokesperson said, business needs drove the decision — and keeping the Herring Networks programming simply wasn't in the best interests of DirecTV.
AT&T, a majority owner of DirecTV, has faced calls to drop OAN for its support of conservative conspiracy theories — such as the falsehood pushed by Trump and many Republicans that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
"OAN's support for the 'Big Lie' that the 2020 election was stolen and the fact that it's consistently giving airtime to conspiracy theories and misinformation on COVID-19, moves it from a participant in the marketplace of ideas to a peddler of toxic lies," John Bergmayer, legal director of the nonprofit advocacy group Public Knowledge, said in November. The group was among those advocating for cable and satellite providers to drop OAN.
The DirecTV spokesman declined to comment on whether OAN's specific editorial policies had anything to do with the decision to drop the network, but said that calls from outside groups didn't drive the decision.
OAN did not respond to requests for comment.
AT&T faced heavy criticism last year after a Reuters report found that the telecom giant played an integral role in OAN's 2013 launch. "They told us they wanted a conservative network," OAN founder Robert Herring Sr. said in a court deposition, Reuters reported.
AT&T carried OAN on its U-verse platform. But after AT&T finalized its purchase of DirecTV in 2015, AT&T declined to carry OAN or any other Herring programming. Herring sued AT&T, alleging it had broken an oral promise; AT&T agreed as part of a settlement to carry OAN in 2017.
In 2020, an OAN accountant testified that 90% of OAN's revenue came from a contract with AT&T owned platforms such as DirecTV, Reuters reported. In response to the Reuters report, AT&T denied having a financial interest in OAN's success.
Bloomberg reports that the contract between DirectTV and Herring Networks expires in early April. OAN is still available on Verizon FiOS and a few other platforms, including the Herring Networks-owned KlowdTV.
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There should be commercial penalties for abusing the 1st
lying = freedom of speech to GOPers...
isn't OAN getting sued by that voting machine company too?
I believe that an NT member is going to be upset about this.
another cross to climb...
Good...
Hey! I was gonna say that. What the hell. It's worth saying twice.
That should be fun to watch. I always get a good laugh at those making a total fool of themselves over being ragged out.
Time for DirecTV to throw out the trash.
Good!
We still get it on uverse. I guess it is going to be dropped in April? Or only from satellite...
Yawn! This is just an extension of AT&T’s preexisting policy of restricting free speech and pushing a liberal agenda.
That said, I can’t say I watched those channels much either. Just about as much as I watch the Communist News Network probably .....
blah, blah, blah, TDS, blah, blah...
tough shit teabags!
I wasn't aware that AT&T was in a position to do so. Will they be imprisoning the employees of OAN? Duct taping their mouths shut? Breaking their fingers so they can't write or type?
it's all part of the corporate battle lines being drawn for the secret GOP civil war coming. plus, best for them to get all the cash they can out of them before the debts start adding up and it ends up stalled out in bankruptcy court while the OAN executives are still cashing in. those satellite broadcast windows are in short supply and they haul in the cash. AT&T is still giving cash to the insurrectionist candidates in congress after stating they wouldn't be last january.
More yawn worthy hyperbole....... yawn!
To counter your own hyperbole. AT&T isn't restricting anybody's free speech. It is unable to do so. OAN is still able to lie all they like.
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Apparently if every media company doesn't air every channel then they are "restricting free speech". If they choose not to host the "Quilting Network" then they are silencing quilters! If they refuse to carry not to carry the "Catfish Noodling" channel then they are silencing noodlers!" If they refuse to carry the "Dip Shit Conservatives" channel then they are silencing dipshit conservatives! If they refuse to carry the "Qanon News network" then they are silencing more dipshit conservatives! If they refuse to carry the "Self-Proclaimed Victims" channel then clearly, once again, they are silencing conservatives!
And if TV manufacturers allow the mute button to be used or anything less than full volume while tuned to a conservative network then clearly the 'deep state' is silencing conservatives! /s