Newsmax Files New Suit Challenging Fox’s TV Market Monopoly (1)

Newsmax Broadcasting LLC filed a new antitrust lawsuit alleging Fox Corp. has engaged in an exclusionary scheme to increase and maintain its dominance in the market for US right-leaning pay TV news.

The suit, filed Thursday in the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, is similar to the one dismissed Sept. 4 as a “shotgun pleading” by a Southern District of Florida judge because it lacked clarity and organization.

Trial courts within the Eleventh Circuit in particular have monitored shotgun pleadings in recent years.

The Newsmax case is a rare example of a smaller conservative news outlet suing one of the largest for antitcompetitive behavior. Newsmax was founded in 1998 as a digital media company by journalist Christopher Ruddy. Fox News dates to 1996 and has become a media conglomerate whose market capitalization is approximately $26 billion.

Fox News imposes financial penalties on distributors if they carry Newsmax or others by requiring them to carry and pay high fees for Fox’s “little-watched channels like Fox Business,” the complaint says.

Fox also allegedly has contractual barriers baked into its carriage agreements to prevent Newsmax and others from competing.

“Newsmax is far from the only victim,” the complaint says. “Defendants’ anticompetitive conduct impedes competition in the entire Right-leaning Pay TV News Market, deprives consumers of genuine choice, and increases the cost consumers must bear to access to right-leaning news.”

Fox News didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Newsmax seeks damages under the Sherman Act as well as the Wisconsin Antitrust Act. It also seeks a permanent injunction against Fox News to prohibit its anticompetitive agreements.

Newsmax is represented by Godfrey & Kahn SC and Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick PLLC.

The case is Newsmax Broadcasting LLC v. Fox Corp., W.D. Wis., No. 25-cv-770, complaint filed 9/11/25.