Newsmax sues Fox News, calling it a monopoly that abuses its power

By Liam Reilly, CNN

(CNN) — Christopher Ruddy’s pro-Trump channel Newsmax on Wednesday filed an antitrust lawsuit against Fox News, accusing the Rupert Murdoch-owned broadcaster of illegally blocking competition in the right-wing pay-TV market.

The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida against the Fox News Network and its parent company, Fox Corp, accused Fox of engaging in “an exclusionary scheme to increase and maintain its dominance in the market for US right-leaning pay TV news.”

“Fox’s control over this must-have news channel gives it significant market power and leverage to impose onerous demands on distributors of its content,” Newsmax alleges in the lawsuit. “Fox leverages this market power to coerce distributors into not carrying or into marginalizing other right-leaning news channels, including Newsmax.”

In a statement, Ruddy, the company’s founder and chief executive, said “Fox may have profited from exclusionary contracts and intimidation tactics for years, but those days are over.”

Fox and Newsmax did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Newsmax is seeking monetary damages and wants the court to restrict Fox from maintaining its allegedly “exclusionary contracts and monopolistic practices.”

“This lawsuit is about restoring fairness to the market and ensuring that Americans have real choice in the news they watch,” Ruddy said. “If we prevail, Fox’s damages could be tripled under federal law – an outcome that would send a powerful message to any company that thinks it can monopolize public discourse.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The-CNN-Wire
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