Newsmax Sues Fox News For Allegedly Using ‘Leverage’ To Harm Competing Networks

Newsmax Broadcasting filed an antitrust lawsuit against Fox Corporation and Fox News on Wednesday for its alleged “unlawful monopolization” to prevent fair competition between right-leaning news networks.

The lawsuit alleges that Fox is blocking competition in the market for Newsmax and other right-leaning networks, specifically by allegedly imposing financial penalties on distributors if it airs Newsmax. The network argued they would have seen its audience and ratings “grow sooner” and have become “a more valuable media property” if it were not for Fox’s alleged “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 lawsuit states. “Fox’s campaign to stunt Newsmax’s 💼Business has delayed, for almost a decade, Newsmax’s growth in pay TV distribution, especially in the critical virtual Multichannel Video Programming Distributor (‘vMVPD’) arena, and has resulted in significant damages to Newsmax, including in the form of lost 💼Business, missed advertising and marketing revenues, and lower cable license fees, all while increasing overall company costs. Newsmax is far from the only victim.” (RELATED: Newsmax Hunts Down ‘Creep’ Who Allegedly Photographed 12-Year-Old Daughter On Beach)

Fox also allegedly conditions “no-carry provisions,” which restricts or blocks distributors from airing competitors such as Newsmax, the lawsuit alleges. If distributors place Newsmax in basic packages, Fox penalizes the distributors by making them promote its less popular channels.

Fox News Media told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Newsmax “cannot sue their way out of” their own failures.

“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 outlet said.

The lawsuit further alleges that Fox has pressured its guests to not appear on Newsmax and have hired private investigators to target Newsmax executives.

One distributor named vMVPD Fubo allegedly told Newsmax in June that it would no longer include the network in its package as a result of Fox’s “leverage,” according to the lawsuit. The network has also allegedly been “delayed” from being part of Sling TV’s package.

“In or about June 2025, during renewal negotiations with vMVPD Fubo, Newsmax was informed that Fubo’s new Sports/Entertainment Package, which Fubo plans to heavily market, would not include Newsmax. On information and belief, Fox used its leverage to (i) secure inclusion of Fox News and Fox 💼Business in that Sports/Entertainment Package, and (ii) impose terms that deter Fubo from adding additional news channels, including Newsmax, without incurring penalties,” the lawsuit reads.

A Fubo spokesperson told the DCNF that Newsmax is currently included in their Sports/Entertainment package.

Newsmax is seeking damages under Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act, the Florida Antitrust Act and the Florida Deceptive & Unfair Trade Practices Act. The network is asking a federal court to declare Fox’s actions as unlawful and to pay monetary damages as permitted by law. They are further seeking a jury trial.

“Fox’s behavior represents a textbook abuse of monopoly power,” Newsmax’s lead counsel Michael J. Guzman said, according to the network’s press release. “The law is clear: competition, not coercion, should decide what news channels Americans can watch. By leveraging its must-have status, Fox has blocked new voices, suppressed consumer choice, and extracted excess profits.”

Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy said the lawsuit is about “restoring fairness to the market and ensuring that Americans have real choice in the news they watch,” according to the press release.

Fubo declined to comment on the lawsuit. Sling TV did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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