Newsmax Sues Fox News, Alleging ‘Anticompetitive Behavior’ in ‘Right-Leaning’ TV Market

It can’t be understated just how dominant Fox News is when it comes to cable news.

Their two biggest “competitors,” ostensibly MSNBC and CNN, can’t really touch Fox News in terms of ratings, combined or among Democrats.

Fox News also has a similar stranglehold when it comes to the conservative news space — and one outlet has a bone to pick about that.

According to multiple reports, conservative-leaning news outlet Newsmax, led by Christopher Ruddy, has filed a lawsuit against Fox News, owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Per CNBC, the lawsuit was filed Wednesday in southern Florida and accused Fox News (using its immense status in the space) of acting as a monopoly and of suppressing its conservative competitors.

“Fox has sought to protect and expand its monopoly power in the Right-leaning Pay TV News Market by engaging in a suite of anticompetitive behaviors,” Newsmax attorneys wrote in the suit.

“Fox’s longstanding and ongoing practices have harmed and will further harm, competition and consumers in the United States,” the suit further noted.

According to CNN, those “anticompetitive behaviors” include a suite of allegations, such as telling cable distributors not to carry other conservative outlets and imposing additional fees if they do, and “building barriers into carriage deals that bar other channels from competing,” the outlet said.

Newsmax alleged that it would have a bigger, more thriving business had Fox News not engaged in those practices, specifically.

“These tactics constitute unlawful restraints of trade and flow directly from Fox’s unlawful monopolization of the Right-leaning Pay TV News Market,” Newsmax claimed.

“Fox may have profited from exclusionary contracts and intimidation tactics for years, but those days are over,” Ruddy said in a statement.

“It’s pretty clear to us that that is continuing and robustly, and nothing has changed,” Ruddy added. “We felt we had to bring the suit, we’re going to let the courts decide, obviously, on our allegations, but we think we have an extremely strong case.”

Perhaps most alarmingly, CNBC reported that Newsmax also claimed Fox went so far as to hire private investigators to dig up dirt on top company executives.

“But for Fox’s anticompetitive behavior, Newsmax would have achieved greater pay TV distribution, seen its audience and ratings grow sooner, gained earlier ‘critical mass’ for major advertisers and become, overall, a more valuable media property,” the suit claimed.

In perhaps a bit of a surprise, Fox News took a particularly scathing shot back at Newsmax over these monopolization accusations.

“Newsmax cannot sue their way out of their own competitive failures in the marketplace to chase headlines simply because they can’t attract viewers,” a Fox News representative said, per CNBC.

In response, Ruddy fired back during an interview with the outlet.

“Then why did they spend so much time throughout the years blocking and suppressing us?” he asked.

Newsmax is seeking monetary damages and a restriction on Fox News’ alleged behaviors.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

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