One America News Network has been dropped by Verizon’s Fios TV lineup.
Fios was the last remaining major cable provider that carried the right-wing network.
According to Verizon, OAN “failed to agree to fair terms,” though they did not specify what those terms were.
“Our negotiation with OAN has been a typical, business-as-usual carriage negotiation like those that routinely happen between content distributors and content providers. These negotiations were focused on economics, as they always are, but OAN failed to agree to fair terms,” a Verizon spokesperson said in a statement provided to the Daily Beast.
The network will disappear from the channel lineup for Verizon customers at the end of July.
“Since we were unable to reach an agreement, effective July 31, 2022, we will no longer have the rights to provide our customers with this programming, and it will be removed from the Fios TV lineup,” the spokesperson continued.
The statement continued, “our company has long advocated for providing customers with the ability to choose what content they want to watch, and our Fios TV platform offers a wide and diverse choice of programming options, including a la carte options, that strive to meet our millions of customers’ various content needs and preferences.”
Alaska’s General Communication Inc. is the last cable provider in the US to provide the network. They provide cable to roughly 100,000 homes in the state.
OAN will still be available to stream online.
The network was dropped by DirecTV in April following a “routine internal review,” though they were also under tremendous pressure to do so by activists. The carrier also dropped AWE (A Wealth of Entertainment), which is owned by Herring Networks — the same company that owns OAN.
AT&T owns 70 percent of DirecTV.
The Herring Networks has now filed a lawsuit against DirecTV, which claimed that “as a result of the conduct of AT&T, AT&T Services, DirecTV, and Kennard, OAN and AWE might be forced off the air because Herring will no longer be able to broadcast OAN and AWE via DirecTV and Herring presently has limited alternative carriage options,” according to a report from Ars Technica.
The lawsuit stated that DirecTV’s decision “will result in damage to Herring exceeding $1 billion.”
“This is an action to redress the unchecked influence and power that Defendants have wielded in an attempt to unlawfully destroy an independent, family-run business and impede the right of American television viewers to watch the news media channels and programs of their choice,” Herring Networks said.
NEW!
President Donald J. Trump:
“If AT&T/DirecTV cancels OAN, I hope that everyone will boycott and cancel DirecTV. It is a very popular channel, far more popular than most would understand, and they are being treated horribly by the Radical Left lunatics running the networks. pic.twitter.com/6aRoZLD3ER
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) February 8, 2022
Former President Donald Trump weighed in on the battle with AT&T and DirecTV in February, prior to the network being officially dropped, saying, “if AT&T/DirecTV cancels OAN, I hope that everyone will boycott and cancel DirecTV. It is a very popular channel, far more popular than most would understand, and they are being treated horribly by the Radical Left lunatics running the networks.”
