• by Wayne Friedman , March 22, 2023

Ending its two-month blackout, DirecTV and conservative news channel Newsmax have announced a new carriage agreement for the network to be carried on all its services.

DirecTV says the deal will result in no additional cost to subscribers. The Newsmax channel will start up March 23 on DirecTV, DirecTV Stream and U-verse.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The two companies were unable to come to a carriage agreement on January 25.

Bill Morrow, chief executive officer of DirectTV, said in a release: “Through our persistent negotiations, we reached a resolution under mutually-agreeable business terms allowing us to deliver the conservative news network at the right value – a reflection of the free market at work.”

Christopher Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax, also in a release, credited DirecTV with giving the channel its start over 10 years ago, adding: “we are pleased to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.”

DirecTV now says its carriage of news channels has expanded to six -- CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, Newsmax, NewsNation, and The First.

DirecTV says TV channel disruptions for the industry continue to climb, noting that over the past five years there has been at least 140 channels against their primary distributors.
Over the last six months, national TV advertising revenue for Newsmax was estimated to be $52.6 million coming from 6.0 billion impressions, according to iSpot.tv.
Top paying advertisers over the period include: Balance of Nature, My Pillow, Wounded Warrior Project, Relief Factor, Humana, and Colonial Penn, Relaxium, and SuperBeets.

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