(FreedomBeacon.com)- Last week, DirecTV responded to a letter from a group of Republican senators who requested an explanation for why the television provider decided to drop the right-wing news network Newsmax from its line-up.
Earlier this month, Senators Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Lindsey Graham, and Mike Lee sent a letter to DirecTV and its parent company AT&T demanding to know why Newsmax was removed, calling the decision another example of a company “suppressing politically disfavored speech” on behalf of the Democrat Party.
The senators wanted to know if DirecTV’s decision “was politically motivated” and if the company did so under pressure from either the White House or Congressional Democrats.
They also asked DirecTV for an accounting of the fees it may pay other channels and whether the channels paid by DirecTV have higher or lower ratings than Newsmax.
During an appearance on Newsmax’s “Robb Schmitt Tonight” last Wednesday, Senator Cruz was asked by the host if he expected DirecTV to ignore the letter.
Cruz said that the legal teams from DirecTV and its parent company AT&T had until the end of the day to respond to the letter and he was expecting them to do so.
Cruz told Schmitt that dropping Newsmax was “deeply concerning,” adding that millions of Texans want the “fair and balanced reporting” that Newsmax provides.
Ultimately, Cruz was right about one thing, DirecTV did meet the deadline.
In its response to the senators’ letter, DirecTV explained that Newsmax was dropped from its service as part of a “routine” dispute that had nothing to do with political censorship as Newsmax had claimed.
The company also maintained that it wanted to continue its relationship with Newsmax under the terms that were already in place but the network “refused to continue these terms” and instead, demanded millions in “extra payments.”
DirecTV told the senators that, in reality, it was “Newsmax that dropped DIRECTV.”
