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One America News? Yeah, You Can Thank AT&T

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https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-oneamerica-att/

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As it lauded former President Donald Trump and spread his unfounded claims of election fraud, One America News Network saw its viewership jump. Reuters has uncovered how America’s telecom giant nurtured the news channel now at the center of a bitter national divide over politics and truth.

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One America News, the far-right network whose fortunes and viewership rose amid the triumph and tumult of the Trump administration, has flourished with support from a surprising source: AT&T Inc, the world's largest communications company.

A Reuters review of court records shows the role AT&T played in creating and funding OAN, a network that continues to spread conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Quote

OAN founder and chief executive Robert Herring Sr has testified that the inspiration to launch OAN in 2013 came from AT&T executives.

“They told us they wanted a conservative network,” Herring said during a 2019 deposition seen by Reuters. “They only had one, which was Fox News, and they had seven others on the other [leftwing] side. When they said that, I jumped to it and built one.”

Quote

Since then, AT&T has been a crucial source of funds flowing into OAN, providing tens of millions of dollars in revenue, court records show. Ninety percent of OAN’s revenue came from a contract with AT&T-owned television platforms, including satellite broadcaster DirecTV, according to 2020 sworn testimony by an OAN accountant.

Herring has testified he was offered $250 million for OAN in 2019. Without the DirecTV deal, the accountant said under oath, the network’s value “would be zero.”

More at the link.  Long read but worth it.

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atomheartbevo

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1 hour ago, TexasEd said:

I'll pour one out for them when/if they fold.  Probably look into a streaming or app model but the olds ain't got time for that, just give them their DirectTV remote

Losing its biggest distributor could definitely put it on a death watch of sorts.  Kind of hard to sell advertising in that environment.

Flip side for them, they've got a bunch of recent journalism grads who are doing most of their shows, so they can't be too expensive.

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https://news.trust.org/item/20220115163735-pzh6l

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The announcement by DirecTV, which is 70% owned by AT&T, comes three months after a Reuters investigation revealed that OAN's founder testified that AT&T inspired him to create the network. Court testimony also showed that OAN receives nearly all of its revenue from DirecTV.

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DirecTV, with approximately 15 million subscribers, is by far OAN's largest carrier. According to testimony by OAN's accountant reviewed by Reuters, DirecTV provided 90% of the conservative network's revenue.....

During a 2020 court proceeding, a transcript shows, an OAN lawyer told the court, "If Herring Networks, for instance, was to lose or not be renewed on DirecTV, the company would go out of business tomorrow."

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Francisco 2.0

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LOL worthy.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/01/oan-panics-as-directv-drops-network-asks-viewers-to-find-dirt-on-att-chairman/

 

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One America News is in panic mode after DirecTV decided to drop the right-wing network from its channel lineup.

OAN host Dan Ball on Monday night urged viewers to dig up "dirt" on AT&T Board Chairman William Kennard, a Democrat who was Federal Communications Commission chairman during the Clinton administration and US Ambassador to the European Union under Obama. (AT&T is DirecTV's majority owner.)

 

Quote

A Daily Beast article said Ball told viewers that OAN "is now at war with AT&T." The Daily Beast article continued:

 

Airing a graphic that featured AT&T's customer support number and a picture of AT&T chairman William Kennard, Ball noted that Kennard had "connections to the Obamas and Clintons for decades."...

"If you have any dirt on Mr. Kennard, I'd love to see it and put it on this program," the Real America host exclaimed.

"You bring me concrete evidence of whatever it may be: cheating on his taxes, cheating on his wife, saying racial slurs against white people," Ball added, unsubtly referencing the fact that Kennard is Black. "Whatever it may be. Find it for me. Bring it, and we will air it."

He wrapped his plea by saying, "Everybody's got dirty little sins and secrets they're hiding" and that Kennard "deserves to have his exposed" over DirecTV deciding to cut ties with One America News.

 

oan-kennard.jpg

 

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"Call AT&T's support line. Complain, raise hell, email, phone call daily, every hour, set the alarm on your phone, blow the phone lines up, demand they keep OAN—this is censorship at its best," Ball also said. He accused Kennard of "doing nothing but a political maneuver by pressuring DirecTV... to take us off the air."

Kennard became AT&T's board chairman in January 2021.

 

Spoiler

OAN's website urged viewers to "call DirecTV and AT&T to demand OAN remains on your channel lineup."

"Cancel Culture in News is Unacceptable! Don't let woke executives shut down OAN!... Join the movement and stand up for freedom of the press!" the now-deleted message on OAN's website said.

"On another OAN show on Monday, Trump spokesperson Liz Harrington framed DirecTV’s decision to drop OAN as an extension of a purported communist plot to steal the 2020 presidential election," Media Matters for America wrote.

DirecTV last week confirmed it is dropping OAN after its current contract expires in early April. "We informed [OAN owner] Herring Networks that, following a routine internal review, we do not plan to enter into a new contract when our current agreement expires," DirecTV told news organizations. DirecTV is dropping both OAN and AWE, which is also owned by Herring Networks and stands for "A Wealth of Entertainment."

Media Matters, Free Press, and over a dozen other advocacy groups previously urged AT&T and DirecTV to drop OAN, saying the right-wing network "is a major supporter of the Stop the Steal movement and is currently being sued by Dominion for spreading election fraud lies that claimed the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump." The groups' letter also said that OAN "stok[ed] violent calls for the attack on the US Capitol" and airs "wall-to-wall COVID-19 disinformation."

AT&T "cannot speak to promoting values of equality and justice while also funding a channel spreading conspiracy theories and applauding insurrection... We call on DirecTV to stop carrying OANN and for AT&T to do everything in its power to denounce and remove OANN from its lucrative platform," the letter said.

OAN's website says it is still carried by Verizon FiOS, CenturyLink, and smaller providers.

Former President Trump and some Republican lawmakers blasted DirecTV. "Maybe what we should do is not use AT&T," Trump said at a rally Saturday, according to the Times of San Diego. "All I can tell you is the people that are telling the truth in America like One America News are being threatened," Trump also said. "I love One America News... I watch it all the time."

"@DIRECTV is cancelling @OANN so I just cancelled my home Direct TV. Why give money to people who hate us?" Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) tweeted.

"Pretty convenient that this comes within a week after Biden begged companies to silence 'misinformation', meaning his opposition. I stand with @OANN!" Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) tweeted.

AT&T's 2015 purchase of DirecTV for $49 billion ($67 billion including debt) was a resounding failure, and AT&T completed a spinoff of the company in August 2021. AT&T still owns 70 percent of DirecTV, but the service now functions more independently of its parent company. The DirecTV subsidiary owns and operates the DirecTV satellite service, the AT&T TV online service, and U-verse video.

In 2019, OAN founder and chief executive Robert Herring Sr. testified in a labor lawsuit that he created OAN in 2013 in part because AT&T executives "told us they wanted a conservative network," according to a Reuters article. Reuters also wrote that an OAN accountant testified under oath that without the DirecTV deal, OAN's value "would be zero."

Herring Networks claimed in a different 2016 lawsuit that AT&T promised to carry OAN on DirecTV in exchange for OAN's public support of the AT&T/DirecTV merger, which required government approval. OAN's lawsuit claimed that AT&T reneged on the pre-merger deal after the merger was finalized. OAN finally got on DirecTV in 2017, weeks after agreeing to drop its lawsuit against AT&T.

AT&T denied the alleged quid pro quo, telling Ars in October 2021 that "support for the merger was never a condition of or part of any content agreement" and that "the decision of whether to renew the carriage agreement [with OAN] upon its expiration will be up to DirecTV, which is now a separate company outside of AT&T."

 

Edited by Francisco 2.0
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Lagunamadre

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9 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

LOL worthy.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/01/oan-panics-as-directv-drops-network-asks-viewers-to-find-dirt-on-att-chairman/

 

 

 

Airing a graphic that featured AT&T's customer support number and a picture of AT&T chairman William Kennard, Ball noted that Kennard had "connections to the Obamas and Clintons for decades."...

"If you have any dirt on Mr. Kennard, I'd love to see it and put it on this program," the Real America host exclaimed.

"You bring me concrete evidence of whatever it may be: cheating on his taxes, cheating on his wife, saying racial slurs against white people," Ball added, unsubtly referencing the fact that Kennard is Black. "Whatever it may be. Find it for me. Bring it, and we will air it."

He wrapped his plea by saying, "Everybody's got dirty little sins and secrets they're hiding" and that Kennard "deserves to have his exposed" over DirecTV deciding to cut ties with One America News.

 

oan-kennard.jpg

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

OAN's website urged viewers to "call DirecTV and AT&T to demand OAN remains on your channel lineup."

"Cancel Culture in News is Unacceptable! Don't let woke executives shut down OAN!... Join the movement and stand up for freedom of the press!" the now-deleted message on OAN's website said.

"On another OAN show on Monday, Trump spokesperson Liz Harrington framed DirecTV’s decision to drop OAN as an extension of a purported communist plot to steal the 2020 presidential election," Media Matters for America wrote.

DirecTV last week confirmed it is dropping OAN after its current contract expires in early April. "We informed [OAN owner] Herring Networks that, following a routine internal review, we do not plan to enter into a new contract when our current agreement expires," DirecTV told news organizations. DirecTV is dropping both OAN and AWE, which is also owned by Herring Networks and stands for "A Wealth of Entertainment."

Media Matters, Free Press, and over a dozen other advocacy groups previously urged AT&T and DirecTV to drop OAN, saying the right-wing network "is a major supporter of the Stop the Steal movement and is currently being sued by Dominion for spreading election fraud lies that claimed the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump." The groups' letter also said that OAN "stok[ed] violent calls for the attack on the US Capitol" and airs "wall-to-wall COVID-19 disinformation."

AT&T "cannot speak to promoting values of equality and justice while also funding a channel spreading conspiracy theories and applauding insurrection... We call on DirecTV to stop carrying OANN and for AT&T to do everything in its power to denounce and remove OANN from its lucrative platform," the letter said.

OAN's website says it is still carried by Verizon FiOS, CenturyLink, and smaller providers.

Former President Trump and some Republican lawmakers blasted DirecTV. "Maybe what we should do is not use AT&T," Trump said at a rally Saturday, according to the Times of San Diego. "All I can tell you is the people that are telling the truth in America like One America News are being threatened," Trump also said. "I love One America News... I watch it all the time."

"@DIRECTV is cancelling @OANN so I just cancelled my home Direct TV. Why give money to people who hate us?" Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) tweeted.

"Pretty convenient that this comes within a week after Biden begged companies to silence 'misinformation', meaning his opposition. I stand with @OANN!" Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) tweeted.

AT&T's 2015 purchase of DirecTV for $49 billion ($67 billion including debt) was a resounding failure, and AT&T completed a spinoff of the company in August 2021. AT&T still owns 70 percent of DirecTV, but the service now functions more independently of its parent company. The DirecTV subsidiary owns and operates the DirecTV satellite service, the AT&T TV online service, and U-verse video.

In 2019, OAN founder and chief executive Robert Herring Sr. testified in a labor lawsuit that he created OAN in 2013 in part because AT&T executives "told us they wanted a conservative network," according to a Reuters article. Reuters also wrote that an OAN accountant testified under oath that without the DirecTV deal, OAN's value "would be zero."

Herring Networks claimed in a different 2016 lawsuit that AT&T promised to carry OAN on DirecTV in exchange for OAN's public support of the AT&T/DirecTV merger, which required government approval. OAN's lawsuit claimed that AT&T reneged on the pre-merger deal after the merger was finalized. OAN finally got on DirecTV in 2017, weeks after agreeing to drop its lawsuit against AT&T.

AT&T denied the alleged quid pro quo, telling Ars in October 2021 that "support for the merger was never a condition of or part of any content agreement" and that "the decision of whether to renew the carriage agreement [with OAN] upon its expiration will be up to DirecTV, which is now a separate company outside of AT&T."

 

Have fun on hold motherfuckers. 

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Francisco 2.0

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9 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

It would kind of rule if they actually dug up some real dirt on him. That would serve him right for helping create the channel in the first place to try and undercut Fox News' carriage fees.

He wasn't chairman when OAN was created, or even employed by ATT. He was the ambassador to the EU during this time with the Obama administration.

He became chairman of ATT  in January 2021.

 

 

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SydneyCarton

SydneyCarton 47,884

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30 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

He wasn't chairman when OAN was created, or even employed by ATT. He was the ambassador to the EU during this time with the Obama administration.

He became chairman of ATT  in January 2021.

 

 

They don't give a fuck. It's about keeping their shitty show on the air. 

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On 1/20/2022 at 2:39 PM, Francisco 2.0 said:

"Call AT&T's support line. Complain, raise hell, email, phone call daily, every hour, set the alarm on your phone, blow the phone lines up, demand they keep OAN—this is censorship at its best," Ball also said.

"censorship at its best" LULZ.

Shame that Ball and the others don't like the whole free market thing.

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Francisco 2.0

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https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/oan-sues-att-says-being-kicked-off-directv-may-force-it-to-shut-down/

 

Quote

One America News might have to shut down because of DirecTV's decision to drop the right-wing network from its channel lineup, OAN said in a lawsuit against DirecTV and its owner AT&T.

DirecTV recently said it will drop OAN after their carriage contract expires in early April. DirecTV will also drop AWE (A Wealth of Entertainment), as OAN and AWE are both owned by Herring Networks. In a lawsuit filed on March 7 and reported by the Daily Beast on Friday, Herring Networks alleged that breach of contract and other violations were committed by AT&T, DirecTV, and AT&T Board Chairman William Kennard.

 

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"As a result of the conduct of AT&T, AT&T Services, DirecTV, and Kennard, OAN and AWE might be forced off the air because Herring will no longer be able to broadcast OAN and AWE via DirecTV and Herring presently has limited alternative carriage options," the lawsuit said. The nonrenewal "will result in damage to Herring exceeding $1 billion" if it isn't reversed, the lawsuit said. The complaint was filed in California Superior Court in San Diego County and seeks both injunctive relief and financial damages.

"This is an action to redress the unchecked influence and power that Defendants have wielded in an attempt to unlawfully destroy an independent, family-run business and impede the right of American television viewers to watch the news media channels and programs of their choice," Herring Networks alleged.

 

 

Spoiler

 

Herring claimed in a previous court case that it created OAN at AT&T's request after AT&T "told us they wanted a conservative network." The deal with AT&T and DirecTV provides OAN with most of its revenue.

OAN entered panic mode in January after DirecTV said it would drop the network. OAN host Dan Ball urged viewers to dig up "dirt" on Kennard, a Democrat who was the Federal Communications Commission chairman during the Clinton administration and US Ambassador to the European Union under President Barack Obama. "You bring me concrete evidence of whatever it may be: cheating on his taxes, cheating on his wife, saying racial slurs against white people," Ball said on his show, alluding to the fact that Kennard is Black. "Whatever it may be. Find it for me. Bring it, and we will air it."

Despite a recent spinoff, AT&T still owns 70 percent of DirecTV. The satellite TV provider announced it would drop OAN after pressure from advocacy groups who pointed out that OAN "is a major supporter of the Stop the Steal movement," "stok[ed] violent calls for the attack on the US Capitol," and airs "wall-to-wall COVID-19 disinformation." OAN was also sued by voting-machine maker Dominion, which says it was defamed when OAN aired segments that claimed the 2020 presidential election was rigged.

Former President Donald Trump blasted AT&T and DirecTV for dropping OAN last month, blaming "radical left lunatics" and a "Communist movement." Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and five other Republication state attorneys general last week urged DirecTV to reverse the decision, claiming that "your failure to do so will... drive many millions of Americans to simply cancel your services outright, as President Trump and other leading figures have already called for."

OAN and AT&T still have advertising deal

One big problem for Herring's lawsuit is that AT&T didn't break a carriage contract—it just decided not to sign a new one after the current deal expires. But Herring has a separate advertising deal with AT&T subsidiary Xandr that runs until July 2024 and claims it "reasonably" viewed this deal as "proof" that the carriage agreement would be renewed:

Quote

Herring reasonably believed that the Advertising Agreement was proof of a commitment to a long-term carriage relationship by AT&T, AT&T Services, and DirecTV. This belief was solidified by the fact that the Advertising Agreement was set to expire more than two years after the Affiliation Agreement was set to expire. Herring did not take issue with the term of the Advertising Agreement because Herring had a reasonable belief that the Affiliation Agreement would be renewed.

 

"Indeed, it would not make sense for AT&T Services to be the exclusive advertiser for OAN and AWE if DirecTV did not also carry OAN and AWE," the lawsuit said.

The ad deal struck in 2019 lets AT&T "provide both traditional advertising and programmatic targeted advertising for Herring's programs," gave AT&T "the exclusive right to sell ad space" on the networks, "and required that Herring terminate its existing media vendor," the lawsuit said. AT&T is selling Xandr to Microsoft, but the pending sale "will not include the portion of the company that sells commercials for DirecTV or OAN," according to Reuters.

AT&T accused of breaching confidentiality

Herring alleges that AT&T and DirecTV violated a confidentiality provision in their contract by telling the press about the April 2022 expiration date. Telling the press about its plan to not renew the contract also violated the confidentiality agreement, Herring claims.

Herring further alleges that AT&T "disparaged OAN in violation of the Affiliation Agreement." To support that claim, Herring pointed to CNN airing "reports and commentary that falsely accused OAN of contributing to the events of January 6, 2021, and engaging in 'disinformation' campaigns" and to criticism of OAN by John Oliver on HBO's Last Week Tonight. AT&T owns HBO and CNN through its WarnerMedia division, which it plans to spin off in a deal with Discovery.

"These allegations are completely without merit, particularly as they relate to AT&T and our independent Chairman," AT&T said in a statement to Ars today. AT&T did not answer a question about its plans for the ongoing ad deal with OAN.

OAN struggles to get on other TV providers

AT&T dropping OAN affected the channel's chances of getting on another major TV provider, OAN's lawsuit claimed:

 

Quote

Also after DirecTV's public announcement, OAN representatives have been told by a major MVPD [Multichannel Video Programming Distributor] that it will take [a] "wait and see" approach to adding OAN. The pre-announcement by DirecTV to not renew OAN—more than 75 days in advance—is atypical in the industry. There is no question that AT&T's and DirecTV's strategy was intended to harm OAN. By making the gratuitous announcement that breached the Affiliation Agreement, AT&T and DirecTV signaled to the public that something was wrong, hurting OAN's business and standing in the news media business. And as demonstrated above, concerns about OAN's viability directly sparked by DirecTV's aggressive, well-in-advance notification approach, have significantly harmed OAN.

 

 

OAN's website says it is still carried by Verizon FiOS, CenturyLink, and smaller providers.

OAN claims AT&T chair has conflict of interest

Herring's lawsuit discusses how groups like the NAACP and Media Matters urged AT&T to drop OAN, saying that AT&T caved to the pressure. Herring's complaint also discusses OAN's coverage of Trump's baseless claims that the election was stolen, saying that "OAN provided extensive coverage of the 2020 presidential election, Dominion's role in the election, and the President's pronouncements about alleged election irregularities, all of which were matters of great public concern."

The lawsuit Dominion filed against the news network was "an attempt to destroy Herring and silence OAN," Herring claimed, further alleging a conflict of interest for Kennard because he "serves as a member of the Executive Board of Directors of Staple Street, which is the majority owner of Dominion."

"Herring is confident that discovery will further demonstrate that Kennard was directly involved in DirecTV's decision to non-renew OAN and that Kennard has a personal, political, and financial interest in destruction of OAN that is inconsistent with his fiduciary obligations to AT&T shareholders," the lawsuit said, adding:

 

Quote

As an Executive Board member of Dominion's majority owner, Staple Street, Kennard is invested in helping to make Dominion succeed and become as profitable as possible. This includes ensuring Dominion defeats its opponents such as Herring in Dominion's defamation litigation. And one way to hasten Herring's defeat is by cutting off Herring's ability to earn revenue to help fund its defense. Kennard's role as Chairman of AT&T's Board gives Kennard significant influence over AT&T and its subsidiaries... it is obvious that AT&T—through Kennard—induced DirecTV to discontinue its relationship with Herring without legally adequate justification.

 

 

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Brisketexan

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9 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/oan-sues-att-says-being-kicked-off-directv-may-force-it-to-shut-down/

 

 

 

 

  Hide contents

 

Herring claimed in a previous court case that it created OAN at AT&T's request after AT&T "told us they wanted a conservative network." The deal with AT&T and DirecTV provides OAN with most of its revenue.

OAN entered panic mode in January after DirecTV said it would drop the network. OAN host Dan Ball urged viewers to dig up "dirt" on Kennard, a Democrat who was the Federal Communications Commission chairman during the Clinton administration and US Ambassador to the European Union under President Barack Obama. "You bring me concrete evidence of whatever it may be: cheating on his taxes, cheating on his wife, saying racial slurs against white people," Ball said on his show, alluding to the fact that Kennard is Black. "Whatever it may be. Find it for me. Bring it, and we will air it."

Despite a recent spinoff, AT&T still owns 70 percent of DirecTV. The satellite TV provider announced it would drop OAN after pressure from advocacy groups who pointed out that OAN "is a major supporter of the Stop the Steal movement," "stok[ed] violent calls for the attack on the US Capitol," and airs "wall-to-wall COVID-19 disinformation." OAN was also sued by voting-machine maker Dominion, which says it was defamed when OAN aired segments that claimed the 2020 presidential election was rigged.

Former President Donald Trump blasted AT&T and DirecTV for dropping OAN last month, blaming "radical left lunatics" and a "Communist movement." Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and five other Republication state attorneys general last week urged DirecTV to reverse the decision, claiming that "your failure to do so will... drive many millions of Americans to simply cancel your services outright, as President Trump and other leading figures have already called for."

OAN and AT&T still have advertising deal

One big problem for Herring's lawsuit is that AT&T didn't break a carriage contract—it just decided not to sign a new one after the current deal expires. But Herring has a separate advertising deal with AT&T subsidiary Xandr that runs until July 2024 and claims it "reasonably" viewed this deal as "proof" that the carriage agreement would be renewed:

"Indeed, it would not make sense for AT&T Services to be the exclusive advertiser for OAN and AWE if DirecTV did not also carry OAN and AWE," the lawsuit said.

The ad deal struck in 2019 lets AT&T "provide both traditional advertising and programmatic targeted advertising for Herring's programs," gave AT&T "the exclusive right to sell ad space" on the networks, "and required that Herring terminate its existing media vendor," the lawsuit said. AT&T is selling Xandr to Microsoft, but the pending sale "will not include the portion of the company that sells commercials for DirecTV or OAN," according to Reuters.

AT&T accused of breaching confidentiality

Herring alleges that AT&T and DirecTV violated a confidentiality provision in their contract by telling the press about the April 2022 expiration date. Telling the press about its plan to not renew the contract also violated the confidentiality agreement, Herring claims.

Herring further alleges that AT&T "disparaged OAN in violation of the Affiliation Agreement." To support that claim, Herring pointed to CNN airing "reports and commentary that falsely accused OAN of contributing to the events of January 6, 2021, and engaging in 'disinformation' campaigns" and to criticism of OAN by John Oliver on HBO's Last Week Tonight. AT&T owns HBO and CNN through its WarnerMedia division, which it plans to spin off in a deal with Discovery.

"These allegations are completely without merit, particularly as they relate to AT&T and our independent Chairman," AT&T said in a statement to Ars today. AT&T did not answer a question about its plans for the ongoing ad deal with OAN.

OAN struggles to get on other TV providers

AT&T dropping OAN affected the channel's chances of getting on another major TV provider, OAN's lawsuit claimed:

 

 

OAN's website says it is still carried by Verizon FiOS, CenturyLink, and smaller providers.

OAN claims AT&T chair has conflict of interest

Herring's lawsuit discusses how groups like the NAACP and Media Matters urged AT&T to drop OAN, saying that AT&T caved to the pressure. Herring's complaint also discusses OAN's coverage of Trump's baseless claims that the election was stolen, saying that "OAN provided extensive coverage of the 2020 presidential election, Dominion's role in the election, and the President's pronouncements about alleged election irregularities, all of which were matters of great public concern."

The lawsuit Dominion filed against the news network was "an attempt to destroy Herring and silence OAN," Herring claimed, further alleging a conflict of interest for Kennard because he "serves as a member of the Executive Board of Directors of Staple Street, which is the majority owner of Dominion."

"Herring is confident that discovery will further demonstrate that Kennard was directly involved in DirecTV's decision to non-renew OAN and that Kennard has a personal, political, and financial interest in destruction of OAN that is inconsistent with his fiduciary obligations to AT&T shareholders," the lawsuit said, adding:

 

 

 

All of which comes back to an argument of the phantom legal argument that AT&T actually has some sort of obligation to.....ENTER INTO a new contract with OAN.  Not that AT&T has to perform a contract that it is in (that's the existing law on how contracts work), but rather.....AT&T is somehow legally obligated, and should be subject to a court order ORDERING it, to enter into a new agreement with OAN.

This -- like everything that comes out of this political movement -- is batshit crazy.

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Francisco 2.0

Francisco 2.0 32,342

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Let's pour one out for OAN.    

(Who am I kidding.  Let's celebrate ATT doing the right damned thing for once).

 

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/04/directv-dropped-oan-today-rejecting-gop-pleas-to-keep-right-wing-network/

 

Quote

One America News has officially been removed from DirecTV, as the TV provider resisted pressure from Republicans to keep the right-wing network in its channel lineup. A DirecTV spokesperson confirmed to Ars today that the channel removal went ahead as scheduled.

OAN's future is in doubt as the network's owner has said losing the DirecTV deal might force it to shut down. DirecTV previously issued a notice to users stating that OAN would leave DirecTV's satellite channel lineup and the online service DirecTV Stream after April 4. The removal also affected A Wealth of Entertainment (AWE), another channel owned by OAN parent company Herring Networks.

 

Quote

DirecTV announced it wouldn't renew its carriage deal with OAN after pressure from advocacy groups that pointed out OAN "is a major supporter of the Stop the Steal movement," spread "election fraud lies that claimed the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump," "stok[ed] violent calls for the attack on the US Capitol," and airs "wall-to-wall COVID-19 disinformation." US Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) had also questioned DirecTV owner AT&T and other TV providers about why they carry OAN, Newsmax, and Fox News.

DirecTV has since expanded its deal with Fox by offering Fox Nation streaming as a premium add-on. When asked whether it will keep Newsmax, DirecTV told Ars, "As we do for every network in our lineup, we'll evaluate and make decisions as we approach each contract's expiration." The DirecTV spokesperson also said, "I'm not at liberty to provide the expiration date of the contract [with Newsmax]."

 

Spoiler

OAN sued DirecTV and AT&T

Herring Networks sued DirecTV and majority owner AT&T on March 7, alleging breach of contract and other violations. One of OAN's allegations is that AT&T and DirecTV violated a confidentiality provision in their contract by telling the press about the April 2022 expiration date.

OAN's primary breach-of-contract claim is a long shot given that DirecTV didn't end the carriage agreement early. The TV provider announced in January that "We informed [OAN owner] Herring Networks that, following a routine internal review, we do not plan to enter into a new contract when our current agreement expires" and then dropped the channel when the deal expired this week.

AT&T spun off DirecTV into a separate company last year but still owns 70 percent of it.

Herring's lawsuit said that "OAN and AWE might be forced off the air because Herring will no longer be able to broadcast OAN and AWE via DirecTV and Herring presently has limited alternative carriage options." OAN's website says the network is still on Verizon FiOS, CenturyLink, and smaller providers. OAN also sells online subscriptions directly to consumers for $5 a month.

In a 2020 court case, an OAN accountant testified that the deal with AT&T and DirecTV provided 90 percent of Herring Networks’ income, according to Reuters. "Without the DirecTV deal, the accountant said under oath, the network’s value 'would be zero,'" the article said.

Republican AGs pressured DirecTV to keep OAN

After DirecTV's January announcement, OAN host Dan Ball urged viewers to dig up "dirt" on AT&T Board Chairman William Kennard and to "Call AT&T's support line. Complain, raise hell, email, phone call daily, every hour, set the alarm on your phone, blow the phone lines up, demand they keep OAN—this is censorship at its best."

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and five other Republican state attorneys general last month urged DirecTV to reverse its decision, claiming that "your failure to do so will not only cause you to lose millions of dollars in business, but also drive many millions of Americans to simply cancel your services outright, as President Trump and other leading figures have already called for."

Another letter from West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey accused DirecTV of caving to Democratic members of Congress, referencing the letter from Eshoo and McNerney. "The last thing our country needs right now is corporate censorship of conservative voices at the behest of members of Congress and others seeking to cut off debate by limiting the reach of those that disagree with them," Morrisey wrote.

US Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) also called on DirecTV to keep OAN, saying "the lack of transparency with the viewers of OAN in Montana in your decision-making process is unacceptable and has the appearance of targeting supporters of former President Donald Trump."

 

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Captainant

Captainant 27,465

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Posted (edited)
8 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Some good stuff on OAN in John Oliver’s opening segment tonight. The whole episode was solid.

Delete your cookies regularly.

Obligatory plug for JavaScript blockers like NoScript and Ghostery. Setting up a Pi-Hole on your local network to black hole advertising and tracking domains is a great step and some of the metrics are eye opening.

It's unfortunate because on the one hand, the internet (and my career) doesn't exist without the money from internet advertising - but we need a GDPR-like protection mechanism here in the US. And I KNOW that every enterprise/website that might have traffic from Europe already has compliance mechanisms built, so there's no real technical blocker. Just a business and policy blocker.

Really good points in the LWT segment on how it's being used to tapdance on the grave of the 4th amendment.

Edited by Captainant
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WhatTheBuck

WhatTheBuck 28,713

Posted
Posted (edited)
19 minutes ago, hpslugga said:

That ending was fucking epic.

That video isn’t showing up for me now. Is it showing up for you? It did when I first posted it. (The same thing happened recently with another video I posted.) Let me try it again.

Like before, I can see it and play it. But I can’t see it in my post from last night. 

Edited by WhatTheBuck
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hpslugga

hpslugga 4,044

Posted
Posted
Just now, WhatTheBuck said:

That video isn’t showing up for me now. Is it showing up for you? It did when I first posted it. (The same thing happened recently with another video I posted.) Let me try it again.

 

Well I was only referring to the data brokers segment:

 

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Francisco 2.0

Francisco 2.0 32,342

Posted
Posted
41 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Obligatory plug for JavaScript blockers like NoScript and Ghostery. Setting up a Pi-Hole on your local network to black hole advertising and tracking domains is a great step and some of the metrics are eye opening.

It's unfortunate because on the one hand, the internet (and my career) doesn't exist without the money from internet advertising - but we need a GDPR-like protection mechanism here in the US. And I KNOW that every enterprise/website that might have traffic from Europe already has compliance mechanisms built, so there's no real technical blocker. Just a business and policy blocker.

 

A properly setup and maintained pi-hole is great and whatnot, but I switched to Next DNS a few years ago and have never looked back.  No hardware (or virtual) to babysit, etc.  It's $20 a year if you have over 300,000 dns lookups a month.  Netflix's Director of Engineering is one of the persons behind this:

https://nextdns.io/

 

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Captainant

Captainant 27,465

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Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

A properly setup and maintained pi-hole is great and whatnot, but I switched to Next DNS a few years ago and have never looked back.  No hardware (or virtual) to babysit, etc.  It's $20 a year if you have over 300,000 dns lookups a month.  Netflix's Director of Engineering is one of the persons behind this:

https://nextdns.io/

 

Hmmm I may need to look into that... Although now that I have my NAS running 24/7 with a UPS I may just move the Pi-Hole to a container running on the NAS alongside the rest of my Plex setup

Another personal recommendation is something like AdGuard if you're on Android. It's a paid service but a while back I got a family pack of lifetime licenses for $50 so it's what I use. It handles everything on a system level and runs a local VPN and updates local routing so that it's the single network egress and it does the filtering for all network traffic, including HTTPS filtering and DNS encryption

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The Royal We

The Royal We 3,065

Posted
Posted
59 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

A properly setup and maintained pi-hole is great and whatnot, but I switched to Next DNS a few years ago and have never looked back.  No hardware (or virtual) to babysit, etc.  It's $20 a year if you have over 300,000 dns lookups a month.  Netflix's Director of Engineering is one of the persons behind this:

https://nextdns.io/

 

Thanks for the rec, I'm going to look into this.  My kids are just coming into internet age and I have not prepared enough for what is coming.  It looks like this might even address kid's phones - correct?  i.e. disconnecting from wifi and using cellular won't get around this?

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Francisco 2.0

Francisco 2.0 32,342

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Posted
4 minutes ago, The Royal We said:

Thanks for the rec, I'm going to look into this.  My kids are just coming into internet age and I have not prepared enough for what is coming.  It looks like this might even address kid's phones - correct?  i.e. disconnecting from wifi and using cellular won't get around this?

 

In theory, sure.  You install the Next DNS app on their phone, configure it, and off you go.  However, kids being kids....if you are counting on an easily installed (and uninstalled) third party app that forces all their network traffic through Next DNS, then you might as well not bother.

 

 

 

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89,449

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Bryan Cranston Reaction GIF

This is going to reach some old relatives of mine.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-03/one-america-news-plots-a-comeback-that-includes-tv-antenna-users?sref=P6Q0mxvj

Quote

After being dropped by two major pay-TV distributors this year, One America News is attempting a comeback by leveraging an old technology: the antenna.

The conservative channel, which has been accused of spreading misinformation about the 2020 election and praised by former President Donald Trump, lost millions of homes when DirecTV and Verizon Communications Inc. stopped carrying it.

Quote

To replace them, OAN is signing up partners to broadcast on so-called “subchannels.” OAN airs on free, over-the-air channels in about 30 markets and plans to be in about 100 by the end of this year, according to a person familiar with the company’s strategy who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public. The markets include Pittsburgh; Las Vegas; Wichita, Kansas; Jacksonville, Florida; and Birmingham, Alabama. 

Quote

Subchannels, which are sometimes called “multicasts” or “diginets,” are a little-noticed corner of the TV business. But they’ve been growing as more people cancel cable-TV and use antennas to supplement their Netflix binges with free broadcast stations. About 15% of US households use antennas, up from 10% in 2010, according to Nielsen.

 

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