Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has announced that he is canceling his DirectTV service after the cable service announced that they were dropping One America News.
In a tweet about his cancelation, Sen. Paul asked, “why give money to people who hate us?”
.@DIRECTV is cancelling @OANN so I just cancelled my home Direct TV. Why give money to people who hate us?
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 17, 2022
DirecTV satellite service, owned by AT&T Inc. and TPG Inc., said in a statement on Friday that it has informed Herring Networks, the owner of OANN, that “following a routine internal review,” DirecTV does not “plan to enter into a new contract when our current agreement expires.”
As Timcast previously noted, while no specific reason for the decision to let the contract expire, the move comes only days after President Joe Biden made a plea to media companies to censor certain information contradictory to his administration.
The NAACP also met with AT&T last year to encourage the company to drop the conservative network.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement in October of 2021, “AT&T is directly supporting efforts that undermine our democracy and suppress our right to vote. It’s reprehensible.”
Sen. Paul was not alone in condemning DirectTV. Other Republican lawmakers have also slammed the service for dropping One America News.
“The Left’s purge continues: -YouTube demonetizes Dan Bongino. -DirectTV drops One America News. -Twitter suspends Dr. Malone. Who’s next?,” Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan tweeted.
Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert pointed out, “pretty convenient that this comes within a week after Biden begged companies to silence ‘misinformation’, meaning his opposition.”
DirectTV decided not to renew their contract with OANN.
Pretty convenient that this comes within a week after Biden begged companies to silence “misinformation”, meaning his opposition.
I stand with @OANN!
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) January 16, 2022
According to a report from Reuters, the bulk of the network’s income comes from AT&T, which owns and operates DirecTV.
One America News will still be available on Verizon Fios and other smaller carriers. It will also be streaming online through the service KloudTV.
