A federal judge in Florida on Friday dismissed Newsmax’s lawsuit against Fox News – for now.
Judge Aileen Cannon, a Donald Trump appointee, ruled that Newsmax’s 31-page filing amounted to a “shotgun pleading” that simply restated its allegations in each count. Newsmax sued Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp., on Wednesday, alleging the highly rated cable news network illegally conspired to pressure TV carriers to stunt Newsmax’s pay-TV growth.
Cannon ordered Newsmax to refile the complaint by Sept. 11, one that “must not contain any successive counts that incorporate all prior allegations.”
“We understand this is just a technical matter and our law firm is refiling,” a Newsmax spokesperson said.
Fox News did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Fox News was accused on Wednesday of engaging 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.”
Newsmax claimed that Fox had leveraged its high ratings and status as a “must-have” cable network to force carriers to carry lesser-watched channels, such as Fox Business and Fox Sports 2, in their basic packages if they included competitors like Newsmax and One America News Network.
That would force significant “financial penalties” on them, Newsmax said in its complaint, prompting them to exclude the younger right-wing news network.
A Fox News spokesperson said on Wednesday that Newsmax “cannot sue their way out of their own competitive failures in the marketplace to chase headlines simply because they can’t attract viewers.”
Newsmax accused Fox of violating the Sherman Act, the Florida Antitrust Act and the Florida Deceptive & Unfair Trade Practices Act, with nearly every “cause of action” in its complaint under these laws restating some of its prior allegations.
