By A bitter fight inside the conservative media landscape has spilled into federal court. Newsmax Broadcasting filed an antitrust lawsuit Wednesday accusing Fox Corporation and Fox News of abusing monopoly power to suppress rival outlets and limit viewers’ access to alternative right-leaning voices.
The lawsuit claims Fox used its dominance to penalize distributors that carried Newsmax, delaying the network’s expansion in the pay-TV market—especially among emerging virtual cable providers, known as vMVPDs. According to the filing, those tactics cost Newsmax millions in advertising revenue and licensing fees.
“Fox Corporation has long engaged in an exclusionary scheme to increase and maintain its dominance in the market for U.S. right-leaning pay TV news, resulting in suppression of competition in that market that harms consumers, competition, and Newsmax Broadcasting, LLC,” the company said in the lawsuit, filed Wednesday, according to Variety.
The Newsmax lawsuit alleges that Fox Corp.’s control over Fox News — a “must-have news channel” — gives it “significant market power and leverage to impose onerous demands on distributors of its content. Fox leverages this market power to coerce distributors into not carrying or into marginalizing other right-leaning news channels, including Newsmax.”
In a statement to Variety, a Fox News Media spokesperson said: “Newsmax cannot sue their way out of their own competitive failures in the marketplace to chase headlines simply because they can’t attract viewers.”
“Fox may have profited from exclusionary contracts and intimidation tactics for years, but those days are over,” Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy said in a statement. “This lawsuit is about restoring fairness to the market and ensuring that Americans have real choice in the news they watch. If we prevail, Fox’s damages could be tripled under federal law — an outcome that would send a powerful message to any company that thinks it can monopolize public discourse.”
In June 2025, while negotiating a contract renewal, Fubo told Newsmax it would be excluded from the company’s forthcoming Sports/Entertainment Package. The lawsuit contends Fox pressured Fubo to carry Fox News and Fox Business while attaching conditions that penalized the addition of rivals such as Newsmax.
“In or about June 2025, during renewal negotiations with vMVPD Fubo, Newsmax was informed that Fubo’s new Sports/Entertainment Package, which Fubo plans to heavily market, would not include Newsmax. On information and belief, Fox used its leverage to (i) secure inclusion of Fox News and Fox Business in that Sports/Entertainment Package, and (ii) impose terms that deter Fubo from adding additional news channels, including Newsmax, without incurring penalties,” the lawsuit reads.
Fox News Media rejected the suit as a desperate maneuver. “Newsmax cannot sue their way out of their own competitive failures in the marketplace to chase headlines simply because they can’t attract viewers,” the network told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Newsmax, meanwhile, is seeking damages under the Sherman Act, Florida’s antitrust law, and other statutes. It wants a jury to find Fox liable for unlawful conduct and to award damages. “Fox’s behavior represents a textbook abuse of monopoly power,” said Michael J. Guzman, Newsmax’s lead attorney. CEO Christopher Ruddy framed the case in broader terms: “This lawsuit is about restoring fairness to the market and ensuring that Americans have real choice in the news they watch.”
Fubo declined further comment. Sling TV did not respond. Whatever the outcome, the lawsuit signals an escalation in the rivalry between conservative news outlets, raising sharp questions about competition—and choice—within the right-leaning media ecosystem.
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