Newsmax filed a federal antitrust lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida against Fox Corporation and Fox News Network, accusing Fox of “engaging in an extensive and unlawful campaign to block competition in the market for right-leaning pay television shows.” The complaint argues Fox has abused “its dominance” by leveraging must-have status to force distributors into deals that hurt consumers and competitors.
According to the filing, the alleged tactics violate federal and Florida antitrust laws as well as unfair trade statutes. The heart of the claim is simple: Fox is so essential to cable lineups that it can dictate terms, squeeze out challengers, and keep carriage costs high while conservative audiences lose choice.
“First, Fox imposes explicit or tacit ‘no-carry’ provisions on distributors, conditioning access to its commercially critical content on distributors’ concession not to carry other right-leaning news channels like Newsmax and others,” the complaint says. “Second, it imposes financial penalties on distributors if they carry Newsmax or others by requiring the distributors to carry and pay high fees for Fox’s little-watched channels like Fox Business. Third, Fox inserts a suite of other contractual barriers into its carriage agreements intended to prevent Newsmax and others from competing. These tactics constitute unlawful restraints of trade and flow directly from Fox’s unlawful monopolization of the Right-leaning Pay TV News Market.”
Newsmax also alleges that Fox’s clout as a “must-have” channel lets it bundle weaker properties and attach strings that stifle upstart competition. Those terms, the suit says, reduce viewer choice, lock in higher prices, and chill innovation across conservative media.
“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 complaint continues.
The network points to potential remedies with real bite. “Under federal law, any damages awarded in this case will be trebled,” the complaint notes, signaling that a win could carry hefty financial consequences and force changes to carriage contracts that structure much of the pay-TV world.
Fox hit back hard. “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 company said in response. Fox’s stance is that strong ratings and viewer loyalty—not anticompetitive conduct—explain its leverage with distributors.
Beyond the legal back-and-forth, the stakes for conservative audiences are big. If a dominant player can condition access in ways that block rival right-leaning voices, viewers get fewer options and higher bills while the ad market narrows. If Newsmax proves its case, the result could pry open carriage slots, broaden choice, and level the playing field for competition on the right.
This fight also echoes a wider push in the country: break cartel-style control, restore real competition, and let audiences, not gatekeepers, decide who wins. Conservatives know that a free market with multiple strong voices makes the movement tougher, sharper, and more resilient—and that monopolies, whether in tech, cable, or news, smother that energy.
The next phase will test the evidence: internal emails, contract terms, and distributor testimony about alleged no-carry pressure, financial penalties, and bundling strings. If the court finds those restraints illegal, it could force a reset across the pay-TV ecosystem and open doors for more conservative outlets to reach the homes they’ve been shut out of.
At bottom, this is about fairness for viewers and oxygen for ideas. Let competition in the conservative marketplace thrive, end backroom choke points, and make sure every right-leaning voice that can win an audience gets a fair shot. No more gatekeeping that sidelines our movement—open the lanes and let the best message win.
