‘They’re getting rid of conservative views’: Rick Scott redoubles Newsmax defense

Rick Scott Senate fox
The channel streams on YouTube, but Scott believes DirecTV is 'suppressing' a 'great platform.'

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott agrees with a Newsmax host that dropping them from cable carriage was tantamount to “suppressing” the channel’s views.

The Senator made the comments on The Record with Greta Van Susteren, where he was asked yet again to weigh in on DirecTV’s decision to drop the channel due to not wanting to pay fees to air it.

Even though the network streams on YouTube (where the interview was aired in real-time Wednesday evening), Scott continues to contend that “it sure seems like” the decision to drop the conservative network was intended to stifle its content.

“Newsmax has really built a great channel. A great platform. They, you know, they get their views out there. They do a great job. You know, DirecTV, AT&T, they’ve got to look at, treat everybody fairly,” Scott contended.

“I did a letter with Sen. Ted Cruz asking for more information. What I see is they’re picking, they’re getting rid of conservative views. And they can’t do that. So they’ve got to treat everybody fairly.”

Wednesday’s interview continues a trend of strong words from the Florida Senator about the private company’s decision to cull its lineup.

In January, Scott condemned so-called “censorship” of conservative voices in a call for hearings.

“Absolutely. We’ve got to get to the bottom of this. This is censorship by companies like AT&T of conservative voices … this has got to stop,” Scott said. “So we need to hold hearings here. We need to get to the bottom of this. I’m going to do everything I can.”

“That’s what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to shut down our voices. And we’ve got to fight for this. The American public has to show up,” Scott cajoled.

DirecTV justified dropping Newsmax due to aversion to passing “significant fees” to “our broad customer base,” but for Scott and other conservatives, the price is worth it.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has written for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. He is based in Northeast Florida. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


8 comments

  • Josh Green

    February 8, 2023 at 7:40 pm

    Nah, they’re getting rid of channels that nobody watches and aren’t profitable.

  • SteveHC

    February 8, 2023 at 7:44 pm

    Scott has surely sunk to new political lows. Newsmax (therein using theword “news” very loosely indeed) is just trash, almost nobody was watching it and that is why pretty much all cable and satellite tv services have dropped it. It eas like watching high school used car salespeople sitting behind desks trying to talk about their perceptions of “current events” – laughably pathetic.

  • Peggy

    February 8, 2023 at 7:51 pm

    Rick Scott wants to end Medicare and Social Security.
    I wonder how all these Republican voting retirees down here feel about that.

    I say let it happen. Give them what they voted for.

  • William

    February 8, 2023 at 9:04 pm

    Why are liberal news media readily available and free? Conservative news media are few and hard to find. CBS, abc, pbs nbc pretty much says the same thing republicans bad. Along comes news max(a conservative voice) and they have to go.

    • Dr. Franklin Waters

      February 8, 2023 at 9:43 pm

      Because nobody want’s to advertise on a fake news propaganda outlet like NewsMax. If they’re not profitable, they get dropped. Simple as that.

      If NewsMax valued truth and good journalism, then maybe they’d attract more advertising dollars other than all the Cash4Gold, My Pillow, and the various Cryptocurrency ponzi schemes that they advertise now.

    • Tropical

      February 8, 2023 at 11:06 pm

      They must ‘have to go’ because DirecTV is a business and Newmax doesn’t have enough viewers to make it worthwhile. It’s exactly like when they cancel the show you liked so much. It’s money, not a conspiracy, silly.

      • Linwood Wright

        February 10, 2023 at 10:17 am

        Conservatives think everything is a conspiracy.

        They’re the most self-persecuted people on the planet.

  • Greg

    February 9, 2023 at 3:36 pm

    I watched Newsman mostly to laugh at how silly it was. The shows had ratings of about 150,000 or less. It was almost all B roll with a has-been talking head shouting far right talking points at a screen. From Eric Boling to Sean Spice it was a “what ever happened to…” acid trip. I’ll miss being able to go over to Newsmax for a laugh. Was it of any value? Absolutely not!

Comments are closed.


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