One America News Network’s survival in doubt after getting dropped by Verizon
The future is looking bleak for One America News Network, which is being dropped by Verizon, the last major cable operator to run the strident right-wing cable channel.
OAN was not able to reach agreement with Verizon, which will stop showing OAN on its Fios TV service as of July 31, as the Daily Beast first reported. It’s another hit to San Diego-based OAN, which in April stopped appearing on DirecTV, which accounted for nearly half of the 35 million homes that had been able to get OAN on cable or satellite TV.
Verizon confirmed the report in an email to CBS MoneyWatch, with the company signaling politics had not been a factor.
“Our negotiation with OAN has been a typical, business as usual carriage negotiation like those that routinely happen between content distributors and content providers,” Verizon said in its statement. “These negotiations were focused on economics, as they always are, but OAN failed to agree to fair terms.”
OAN did not respond to a request for comment.
Founded by tech entrepreneur Robert Herring, OAN was criticized for spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 election. The channel, along with Newsmax, has sought out conservative viewers who believe right-leaning Fox News has not been sufficiently loyal to former President Donald Trump.
The Washington Post in 2017 cited internal company emails in reporting Herring had instructed the channel’s staff not to run anything negative about Trump.
OAN is being sued for defamation by voting machine company Dominion, which contends its reputation was harmed by false claims related to Trump’s election loss.