Newsmax TV
 Logo as of 2021 | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Nationwide |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Picture format | 1080i HDTV (downscaled to widescreen 480i for SDTVs) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Newsmax |
| Key people |
|
| History | |
| Launched | June 16, 2014 |
| Links | |
| Webcast | Live News |
| Website | www |
Newsmax TV is an American conservative television channel owned by Newsmax. The network primarily focuses on opinion-based talk shows. It carries a news/talk format throughout the day and night, with documentaries and films on weekends. During and after the 2020 United States presidential election, it grew rapidly by broadcasting conspiracy theories and baseless allegations of voter fraud.[1][2][3]
The channel was created by American journalist and Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy. It launched on June 16, 2014, to 35 million satellite subscribers through DirecTV and Dish Network.[4] As of May 2019, the network reaches about 75 million cable homes and has wide streaming and digital media player/mobile device availability, including on Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Haystack News and more.[5] The channel primarily broadcasts from Newsmax's New York studio on Manhattan's East Side, with headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida and Washington, D.C.[6][7][better source needed]
Newsmax TV holds a conservative political stance, broadcasting many programs hosted by conservative media personalities. CEO Christopher Ruddy has compared the network to Fox News. The company has hired many former Fox News Channel program hosts, including Greg Kelly, Rob Schmitt, Bob Sellers, and Heather Childers.[8][9] The Washington Post has described Newsmax as "a landing spot for cable news personalities in need of a new home", citing the network's airing of Mark Halperin and Bill O'Reilly following their resignations from other networks due to allegations of sexual harassment.[10]
History[edit]
Network launch[edit]
In May 2014, U.S. news organization Newsmax announced that it had signed a distribution deal with DirecTV and would launch a national television news channel to compete directly with CNN, Fox News, and other American news networks. It was launched to provide independent news; its founder, Chris Ruddy described it as intended to be a "kinder, gentler Fox News," saying that "Our goal is to be a little more boomer-oriented, more information-based rather than being vituperative and polarizing."[9]
Around the time of the channel launch, Businessweek Bloomberg profiled Ruddy and Newsmax in a feature story entitled "The Next Ailes: Newsmax's Chris Ruddy Preps TV Rival to Fox News.[11] Businessweek Bloomberg reported that Newsmax planned to build off its success as a digital media player to challenge Fox News in the traditional cable arena while developing a stake in the emerging streaming OTT business.
A Fast Company report in December 2020 suggested Newsmax was on a course to "dethrone" Fox with its streaming digital strategy by offering the channel for free to platforms like Roku, YouTube, Pluto, Xumo and others. "You wouldn't know it by looking at cable TV ratings, but Fox News has a problem on its hands," Fast Company wrote, noting that "When you factor in Newsmax's streaming audience, the race between the two right-wing news networks is closer than you might think."[12]
On January 16, 2016, Dennis Michael Lynch: Unfiltered debuted on the channel.[citation needed] The program ended after the first segment of the August 10, 2016, episode after Lynch announced that he would resign from the network and made comments defending Fox News Channel and criticizing his network for its reporting of the Trump campaign and suggesting they were restricting his editorial control; he was escorted out from the network's New York studio during what would have been the first commercial break.[13][14] It was replaced the next Monday with an hour-long video simulcast of radio's The Howie Carr Show from WRKO in Boston.[15]
Beginning in 2020, the network significantly ramped up programming, adding evening shows with Greg Kelly, a former Fox News and local affiliate host, and Grant Stinchfield, a former NBC local correspondent and ex-NRA TV host.[16] The network launched Spicer & Co. on March 3, 2020, featuring former Trump White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and co-host Lyndsay Keith,[17][18] The network's overnight programming is mainly made up of repeats of Newsmax's evening show line-up and historical documentaries.[citation needed]
2020 election[edit]
During the 2020 United States presidential election, then-President Trump began to promote Newsmax over rival competitor Fox News.[6][19][20] Trump's preference for Newsmax over Fox News became clearer after the latter became the first news outlet to call Arizona for Democratic challenger Joe Biden.[21] Newsmax has made their more conservative leanings a selling point to disaffected Fox News viewers, as well as employing Fox News alumni to join their lineup on Newsmax TV, such as Rob Schmitt and Greg Kelly.[21][22][23]
After the election was won by Democrat Joe Biden, Newsmax struck a defiant tone, focusing on conspiracy theories and allegations of voter fraud as a way to attract Fox News viewers angered by what they saw as insufficient loyalty to Trump.[1][2][3] Emily VanDerWerff of Vox reported that the outlet did not "go full arch-conservative" and "doesn't give airtime to QAnon paranoiacs", but that it "spent lots of time arguing that other media outlets jumped the gun in calling the election for Biden and that Trump still has a path to win this thing."[24] Newsmax was thus positioned further to the right of Fox but less so than One America News Network, another conservative news channel that embraced a far-right editorial stance during and after the Trump administration.[25]
CNN's Brian Stelter, in an on-air interview, asked Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy why the network chose to air "election denialism" and "bogus voter fraud stuff," to which Ruddy replied that the network featured all points of view and argued that all of the other major news outlets who had reported Biden's election win were "rushing."[26]
Since the election, Newsmax has seen increasing viewership; according to Nielsen, Newsmax averaged 182,000 viewers in the week leading up to the election. In the week that followed, the average increased further with daily averages around 400,000 viewers, with Greg Kelly Reports and Spicer & Co. having attracted numbers in the 700,000–800,000 range.[27] On December 7, 2020, Greg Kelly Reports beat its timeslot competitor on Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, in average key demographic viewership for the first time (229,000 to 203,000), while Stelter observed that overall the program "has nearly a million viewers on a good night".[28]
A small number of cable providers, including Breezeline (formerly Atlantic Broadband), dropped the channel in January 2022, noting the channel's wide free availability on streaming advertising-supported video-on-demand platforms, and that their drop of the channel came due to paid carriage being required by Newsmax TV, not its content.[25]
As of October 2022, Newsmax was in a distant fourth place among the cable news channels, behind Fox News, CNN and MSNBC but ahead of NewsNation.[29]
Notable personalities[edit]
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2020) |
Program hosts[edit]
- John Bachman: host of John Bachman Now and former co-host of Newsmax Now
- Tom Basile: host of America Right Now and fill-in host, former co-host of Wake Up America Weekend
- Wendy Bell: host of Wendy Bell Common Sense
- Alfred Bonati: co-host of American Medicine Today
- Kimberly Bermel Bonati: co-host of American Medicine Today
- Nancy Brinker: host of Conversations with Nancy Brinker
- Eric Bolling: host of Eric Bolling The Balance
- Rob Carson: host of Rob Carson’s What In The World?
- Diamond and Silk: hosts of Diamond and Silk Crystal Clear
- Rob Finnerty: co-host of Wake Up America
- Sebastian Gorka: host of The Gorka Reality Check and fill-in host for Greg Kelly Reports
- Carl Higbie: host of Wake Up America Weekend and fill-in host, former host of Saturday Report
- Mike Huckabee: host of Huckabee (shared with TBN)
- Benny Johnson: host of The Benny Report
- Mark Kaye: host of The Mark Kaye Show
- Lyndsay Keith: co-host of Spicer & Co.
- Greg Kelly: host of Greg Kelly Reports
- Jane King: host of New To The Street
- Shaun Kraisman: co-host of National Report
- Alison Maloni: co-host of Wake Up America Weekend and fill-in host
- Dick Morris: host of Dick Morris Democracy
- Jenn Pellegrino: host of Prime News and former co-host of Cortes & Pellegrino
- Emma Rechenberg: co-host of National Report
- Chris Salcedo: host of The Chris Salcedo Show
- Bob Sellers: host of American Agenda
- Rob Schmitt: host of Rob Schmitt Tonight
- Sean Spicer: co-host of Spicer & Co.
- Grant Stinchfield: host of Stinchfield
- John Tabacco: host of Wise Guys with John Tabacco
- Greta Van Susteren: host of The Record[30]
- Ethan Youker: co-host of American Medicine Today
Correspondents and substitute anchors[edit]
- Olly Barratt – London correspondent
- Amanda Brilhante
- Mike Carter – national correspondent and fill-in host of The Count
- Julia Chapman – Moscow correspondent
- Michael A. Charbon – Toronto correspondent
- Heather Childers
- Daniel Cohen – Jerusalem correspondent
- Rita Cosby – fill-in host of Saturday Report
- Bianca de la Garza
- Kilmeny Duchardt – Congressional correspondent and fill-in host of American Agenda and The Count
- Leonardo Feldman – Miami correspondent
- Patrick Fok – Beijing correspondent
- Giles Gibson – Moscow correspondent
- John Gizzi – Chief political columnist and Senior White House correspondent
- Chuck Holton – foreign correspondent
- Jaeson Jones – border correspondent
- Alex Kraemer
- Betsy McCaughey – fill-in host
- Trent Murray – Berlin correspondent
- Logan Ratick – national correspondent
- James Rosen – Chief White House correspondent
- Alex Salvi – Rome correspondent
- Mercedes Schlapp – fill-in host
- Stuart Smith – Moscow correspondent
- Christina Thompson
- Toni Waterman – Texas correspondent
- Sarah Williamson
Regular guests and contributors[edit]
- Bob Barr – former Congressman from Georgia
- Ben Carson – former HUD Secretary
- Chrissy Clark
- Al D'Amato – former Senator from New York
- Danny Danon – former Israeli UN ambassador
- Alan Dershowitz – former host of You and The Law
- Joseph diGenova
- Jessie Jane Duff
- Jenna Ellis
- Erin Elmore
- Tom Fitton
- Steve Forbes
- John Fund
- Andrew Giuliani
- Richard Grenell
- Mark Halperin – former host of Mark Halperin’s Focus Group
- Nan Hayworth – former Congresswoman from New York
- Ron Kessler
- Peter King – former Congressman from New York
- Bryan E. Leib
- Peter Morici
- Michael Reagan – President Reagan's son
- Trish Regan
- Christopher Ruddy – Newsmax founder
- Rick Santorum – former Senator from Pennsylvania
- Matt Schlapp
- Winsome Earle Sears – Virginia Lt. Governor
- Jordan Sekulow
- T.W. Shannon
- Craig Shirley
- Abraham Jacob Terkeltaub
- Victoria Toensing
- Scott Walker – former Wisconsin Governor
- Heather Zumarraga
Previous[edit]
- Steve Bannon – host of War Room (moved to Real America's Voice)
- Ed Berliner – former host of Midpoint with Ed Berliner and The Hard Line with Ed Berliner
- Adam Brandon – former host of Save the Nation
- Herman Cain – was slated to host a show for Newsmax TV but died of coronavirus disease before making it to series[31]
- Howie Carr – host of The Howie Carr Show (now radio-only)
- Steve Cortes – former co-host of Cortes & Pellegrino
- Callista Gingrich – former host of Let Freedom Ring
- J. D. Hayworth – former host of Newsmax Prime and America's Forum
- Miranda Khan – former co-host of Newsmax Now
- Dennis Michael Lynch – former host of Dennis Michael Lynch: Unfiltered
- Michelle Malkin – former host of Michelle Malkin Sovereign Nation
- Steve Malzberg – former host of America Talks Live and The Steve Malzberg Show
- Bill O'Reilly – host of No Spin News with Bill O'Reilly (since moved to The F1rst)
- Joe Pags – host of The Joe Pags Show (now radio-only)
- Joe Pinion – former host of Saturday Agenda and fill-in host
- Emerald Robinson – former White House correspondent
- Rachel Rollar – former co-host of Wake Up America
- Wayne Allyn Root – host of The Wayne Allyn Root Show (now radio-only)
- Jesse Lee Peterson – host of The Jesse Lee Peterson Show (now radio-only)
- Todd Schnitt – former host of The Schnitt Show
- Ben Swann – former fill-in host of The Steve Malzberg Show
Terrestrial affiliates[edit]
|
Newsmax TV mainly depends on its carriage on cable services for viewership, along with streaming on their website and open digital media player platforms such as Roku and in the UK via online video subscription service NewsPlayer+. It has historically made its feed available to free-to-air terrestrial television affiliates, but those affiliations as of 2021 have mostly been discontinued, except for a single affiliate in Alexandria, Minnesota, which carries the Newsmax feed as part of Selective TV's slate of cable and terrestrial stations to the Alexandria area.
Current affiliates[edit]
| City | Callsign | Virtual channel |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles, California | KFLA-LD | 8.1 |
| Cherry Valley, California | KILA-LD | 8.1 |
| Arlington Heights/Chicago, Illinois | WRJK-LP | 22.7 |
| Wilmington, Delaware/Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | WDPN-TV | 2.9 |
| Houston, Texas | KVQT-LD | 21.1 |
| San Francisco, California | KOFY-TV | 20.6 |
| KPJC-LD | 24.8 | |
| Santa Cruz, California | KAAP-LD | 24.8 |
| Gila River Indian Community, Arizona | KGRX-LD | 19.1 |
| Tampa, Florida | WTBT-LD | 45.4 |
| Daytona Beach, Florida | WOTF-TV | 26.6 |
| Orlando, Florida | WSWF-LD | 10.8 |
| Las Vegas, Nevada | KPVM-LD | 25.5 |
| Fond Du Lac/Milwaukee, Wisconsin | WIWN | 68.5 |
| Fresno, California | KAIL | 7.5 |
| Buffalo, New York | WNYB | 26.6 |
| WBNF-CD | 26.6 | |
| Little Rock, Arkansas | KLRA-CD | 20.8 |
| Des Moines, Iowa | KDMI | 19.7 |
| Iowa City/Cedar Rapids, Iowa | KWKB | 20.8 |
| Wichita, Kansas | KAGW-CD | 26.9 |
| Selma/Montgomery, Alabama | WAKA | 8.8 |
| Bellingham, Washington | KBCB | 24.3 |
| Alexandria, Minnesota | K20AC-D | 20.2 |
| Delta, Utah | K24NA-D | 24.1 |
| Fillmore, Utah | K34GO-D | 24.1 |
| Leamington, Utah | K09YW-D | 24.1 |
| Scipio, Utah | K19LY-D | 24.1 |
Former affiliates[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Roose, Kevin (November 12, 2020). "Newsmax courts Fox News viewers with election denialism". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 29, 2020 – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ a b Lahut, Jake. "Newsmax CEO says Trump's baseless voter fraud claims are 'great for news' in off the rails interview". Business Insider. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
- ^ a b "Trump-friendly Newsmax a sudden competitor to Fox News". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
- ^ "Newsmax network debuts Monday on Dish, DirecTV". USA TODAY. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
- ^ "Newsmax Grabs Fox Distribution Executive". May 14, 2019.
- ^ a b Man, Anthony. "South Florida's Newsmax rides wave of interest as Donald Trump urges supporters to turn off Fox News". sun-sentinel.com. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
- ^ Polsky, Sara (November 20, 2012). "10 Buildings Possibly Endangered by a Midtown East Rezoning". Curbed NY. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
- ^ Barr, Jeremy. "Newsmax hopes conservative anger at Fox News and a few Trump tweets can boost the much smaller network".
- ^ a b "The Next Ailes: Newsmax's Chris Ruddy Preps TV Rival to Fox News". Bloomberg. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
- ^ Barr, Jeremy. "Newsmax has emerged as a landing spot for cable news personalities in need of a new home". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
- ^ Greenfeld, Karl Taro (March 6, 2014). "Newsmax's Chris Ruddy Preps TV Network to Rival Fox News". Bloomberg. Retrieved July 13, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Newman, Jared (December 7, 2020). "Newsmax's plan to dethrone Fox News: Build a streaming empire". Fast Company. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
- ^ "Newsmax Host Taken Off the Air After Calling Out His Network During Live Broadcast". www.mediaite.com. August 11, 2016. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
- ^ Emery, Debbie (August 11, 2016). "Newsmax Host Dennis Michael Lynch Is Pulled Off the Air for Defending Fox News". Retrieved November 29, 2020.
- ^ NewsmaxTV (August 15, 2016), Newsmax Prime | Howie Carr talks about Newsmax TV broadcasting an hour of his popular radio show, retrieved August 16, 2016
- ^ Short, Aaron. "The reinvention of Greg Kelly from charismatic New York insider to firebrand Trump booster". Insider. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
- ^ "Sean Spicer Joins Newsmax TV Lineup". Broadcasting+Cable. February 13, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
- ^ "Greg Kelly now anchoring nightly opinion-based show on Newsmax TV". Newsday. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
- ^ Analysis by Brian Stelter. "Trump voters are flocking to a TV channel that claims Biden is not president-elect". CNN. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
- ^ "Donald Trump attacks Fox News: 'They forgot the golden goose'". the Guardian. November 13, 2020. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
- ^ a b Barr, Jeremy (November 10, 2020). "Newsmax hopes conservative anger at Fox News and a few Trump tweets can boost the much smaller network". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- ^ Zara, Christopher (November 10, 2020). "Newsmax could end up being the Fox News of the post-Trump era". Fast Company. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
- ^ "Trump voters are flocking to a TV channel that claims Biden is not president-elect". Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
- ^ VanDerWerff, Emily (November 12, 2020). "My two days watching Newsmax, the network waging war on Fox News from the right". Vox. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
- ^ a b Battaglio, Stephen (January 22, 2022). "Why pay TV operators are dropping Trump-loving cable networks". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
- ^ Beckett, Lois; Wong, Julia Carrie (November 10, 2020). "The misinformation media machine amplifying Trump's election lies". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
- ^ Stelter, Brian (November 12, 2020). "Trump voters are flocking to a TV channel that claims Biden is not president-elect". CNN. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
- ^ Stelter, Brian (December 8, 2020). "Newsmax TV scores a ratings win over Fox News for the first time ever". CNN Business. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
- ^ Keys, Matthew (October 4, 2022). "Chris Cuomo's NewsNation show starts with low ratings". The Desk. Solano Media, LLC. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
- ^ Pedersen, Erik (May 24, 2022). "Greta Van Susteren Joins Newsmax; Hourlong Nightly Program Bows Next Month". Deadline. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
- ^ Calabrese, Dan (July 30, 2020). "We're heartbroken, and the world is poorer: Herman Cain has gone to be with the Lord". The Cain Gang.