Newsmax CEO Warns Christian Leaders About Media Consolidation
Last Friday (7/17), Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy addressed the attendees at The FAMiLY Leader’s Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines. Among the topics Ruddy spoke about included the FCC’s move to abandon the 39% ownership cap for television stations. Ruddy warned that FCC chairman Brendan Carr’s plan “is 
dangerous and would allow two or three corporations to dominate local television news, reducing competition, independent journalism, and threatening religious broadcasters.” He noted that conservative organizations including CPAC, the National Religious Broadcasters, and the Zionist Organization of America oppose lifting these ownership limits. Ruddy also took the opportunity to address how broadcasters view the American people, saying, “Polling consistently shows Americans are far more center-right than portrayed by the legacy media. There is a growing disconnect between public opinion and media narratives.” See more about Ruddy’s speech at Newsmax here.
“accelerating reach and deepening engagement with audiences nationwide.” Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy comments, “This growth shows that Newsmax is truly touching a nerve with audiences. We are continuing to execute on our strategy to reach all people on all platforms, and the results speak for themselves. Passion for our brand remains incredibly strong. We’re seeing audiences actively seek out Newsmax across platforms, share our content, and become part of a growing community that values our reporting and viewpoint.”
competition, raise prices for consumers, and damage local news across the country. If the deal is approved, Nexstar would become the largest TV station owner in the nation owning 244 television stations across 44 states. Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy says, “This merger would create an unprecedented and dangerous consolidation within the broadcast TV industry, giving them immense control over local news and political news coverage.” Newsmax says that the national television ownership cap was set by Congress at 39% of U.S. television households in 2004 and explicitly stripped the FCC of authority to modify it and argues that any change in the cap by the FCC, including waivers, is a direct violation of law. 
Newsmax were defamatory. However, Newsmax is not admitting guilt; just the opposite. “Newsmax believed it was critically important for the American people to hear both sides of the election disputes that arose in 2020. We stand by our coverage as fair, balanced, and conducted within professional standards of journalism.” The company says Delaware Court Judge Eric Davis would not provide a fair trial wherein the company could present standard libel defenses to a jury. Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy says, “The Delaware Court under Judge Davis effectively enforced a confiscation of our property because our reporting was not always sympathetic to Joe Biden. The actions taken against Newsmax, and earlier against FOX News, represent a direct attack on free speech and a free press.”
Exchange under the ticker symbol NMAX. CNBC reports that the rise brought the company’s market capitalization to “nearly $30 billion – surpassing the market cap of legacy media companies like Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox Corp.” Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy told CNBC, “Americans for a long time have been voting with their remote controls, downloads, apps to say they want Newsmax. Now investors powerfully are buying Newsmax shares because they like us, they value us and they want us to keep growing.” 
with a planned March 31, 2025 listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol NMAX, subject to NYSE approval. This IPO comes shortly after it completed a private Preferred Offering in February raising $225 million. Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy says, “Our success with our Preferred raise shows the enormous support our company has as we made thousands of Americans part owners in Newsmax. Now, the initial public offering opens the door for tens of thousands more to join our news revolution and be a part of the first ever company to complete a crowd financed offering on to the main board of the NYSE.”
Now, is submitting IPO offering materials with the SEC and is seeking a public offering with a planned listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NMAX” later this year. Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy states, “This achievement reflects the strong results Newsmax has demonstrated and testifies to the trust and support the company maintains with investors, viewers and friends. We’d also like to thank Digital Offering LLC, for their expertise, hard work and their positive commitment to supporting us throughout this process. We are excited to be one step closer to our upcoming IPO which will provide us a tremendous opportunity for growth. A public offering will allow tens of thousands of Americans to directly partner with us and join our news revolution. We look forward to delivering long-term value to all of our shareholders.”
located another device that had many if not all of the text messages. Those messages were produced to Smartmatic in the litigation. Newsmax also notes that it informed the Special Master that neither Ruddy nor any senior staff sought to hide text messages or emails, which in many cases were also collected from dozens of other Newsmax witnesses in the case and produced to Smartmatic. Newsmax separately filed a Motion for Sanctions against Smartmatic on May 13, 2024, and a Motion for Contempt against Smartmatic on July 16, 2024. Both of those motions remain pending. In its motions Newsmax argues that Smartmatic and its executives have misled Newsmax, the Special Master, and the Court about the Department of Justice’s ongoing criminal investigation into Smartmatic in which the agency alleges that Smartmatic and several of its senior executives participated in an international scheme involving a multi-million-dollar bribe allegedly made to an election official in the Philippines in exchange for the company getting nearly $200 million in contracts. 
investors are defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Rule 501(a) as individuals with a net worth greater than $1 million – excluding their primary residence – or incomes in excess of $200,000 in the last two years with the expectation of the same in the current year – or $300,000 with a spouse.) Last month, Newsmax announced that it would seek to become a public company later in 2024 or in early 2025 with a listing on the NYSE or Nasdaq. In preparation for this contemplated public offering, Newsmax has launched a private placement offering seeking to raise up to $225 million. Ruddy states, “We are excited to connect with the tens of thousands of investors nationwide who have already shown interest in investing in Newsmax. There is much to be enthusiastic about Newsmax, including significant growth in our audience, a surge in interest in conservative media and our expanding portfolio of platforms and distribution. Now more than ever — especially in this election year of 2024 — America needs Newsmax. We look forward to sharing more details with everyone who tunes in to the webinar.” 
about 25 million Americans — turn to Newsmax for their news at least weekly. Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy says, “Newsmax’s rise is even more stunning considering the newness of our brand, Big Tech efforts to thwart us, and several virtual TV distributors still keeping us from their subscribers.” Newsmax recently announced its plans for an initial public offering later this year with a listing on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq.
is launching a private placement offering seeking to raise up to $225 million.” Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy adds, “While achieving significant success, Newsmax has stayed true to our mission of providing Americans with honest and real news. Now more than ever, especially in this election year of 2024, America needs Newsmax and you can join with us as an investor.” The current private offering currently consists of shares of the Company’s Series B 7% Convertible Preferred Stock for a maximum Offering amount of up to $225 million.
here to stay.” In order to get compensation from these multichannel video programming distributors, Newsmax shuttered its free steaming channel on November 1. Interestingly, Ruddy tells Cablefax that contrary to what people might assume, the arrival of Donald Trump on the political scene didn’t help Newsmax’s efforts. “I think President Trump has added great difficulty to Newsmax because there’s so much hostility in the industry and world against him. The media establishment, but also in the cable industry, he’s not a really liked figure. We were having more success I felt before he was elected in 2016. I think we probably would have gotten more carriage earlier had he not been elected… We try to reach out to both sides. While we have a lot of pro-Trump stuff, we also have people like Rick Santorum. He has been you know very critical of him through the years and he’s now our leading political adviser… Our night leads with Greta Van Susteren, and she’s not a polarizing figure.” 
delighted to have him as a guest in this setting and at this time.” In a fast-paced session sponsored by Collette guided travel tour specialists, Ruddy and Harrison engaged in a candid conversation about positioning, programming and navigating the infrastructure of modern media including print, digital and radio as well as cable news/talk television. 
Cooper 360” with 447,000. The new 9:00 pm ET show “Chris Plante The Right Squad” pulled an audience of 325,000 impressions, defeating CNN’s “Whole Story” with 293,000. And at 10:00 pm ET “Greg Kelly Reports” took first place with 278,000 viewers, compared to Chris Wallace giving CNN an audience of just 263,000. Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy says, “Newsmax has witnessed a consistent, positive trend for weeks and we are looking forward to enormous interest in the network as we draw closer to the GOP primaries and ’24 election.”
and “will be an exciting panel show led by Plante and will include Newsmax veteran Jenn Pellegrino along with three other regular panelists.” Newsmax says, “A seasoned television journalist and syndicated radio host, each weekday night Plante will join with ‘The Right Squad’ as his team features strong analysis with dynamic conversation and debates. ‘The Right Squad’ will talk about the major events that are impacting America — and no topic will be off-limits.” Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy adds, “Chris Plante is an award-winning journalist who delivers fact-based news and opinion while keeping the conversation fun and interesting.” Plante hosts a Westwood One-syndicated radio talk show based at Cumulus Media’s news/talk WMAL-FM, Washington, DC.
Newsmax saw this agreement as both an opportunity to join with a respected leader in multimedia, Telecom Serbia, but also to strengthen America’s ties with the people of Serbia and the Balkans. The United States and Serbia were allies in both World Wars, share a common desire to overcome the destructive legacy of communism in East Europe, and both continue to support democratic societies. We believe that millions of Americans, Serbs and others will see us as an important source of information that they can trust.”
network’s “Saturday Report” from early 2020 to 2022. He has also served as co-host of the network’s flagship “Wake Up America Weekend” for the past 15 months. Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy says, “Carl served his country for many years as a decorated Navy SEAL, and with his ‘Carl Higbie Frontline’ will continue to push for the issues and values that he and Americans care about.”
Communications Partners LP, a 39-station group which he later sold to Cumulus Broadcasting in 2000 for $258 million. At this time, he pioneered notable progress in integrating legacy media with emerging digital technology. In 2004, he formed Connoisseur Media which now operates 13 radio station brands and digital assets in five markets. Highly respected and celebrated industry-wide for his outspoken candor and bullish approach to radio station ownership, Jeff Warshaw serves on the board of directors of the National Association of Broadcasters, the executive committee of the Radio Advertising Bureau, and is chairman of the Nielsen Audio advisory council. Harrison describes Warshaw as “one of the most knowledgeable, emerging forces to be reckoned with among radio industry leaders.”
Christopher Ruddy founded Newsmax in 1998 to publish online and offline content in the fields of news, politics, health and finance. Newsmax.com ranks consistently as one of the country’s most-trafficked news websites. Newsmax TV, a cable and over-the-top media service news channel started in 2014, has shown remarkable growth becoming one of the nation’s leading television news and political opinion sources. Newsmax recently entered the field of talk radio with a syndication arm and is reportedly exploring expansion into radio station ownership. As a journalist, Christopher Ruddy previously worked at the New York Post and the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. He was also awarded a Media Fellowship at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. He holds a BA summa cum laude in history from St. John’s University and a Master’s in Public Policy from the London School of Economics. Harrison describes Ruddy as “a key player in emerging 21st century media.”
DirecTV and its leadership for working with us to find a mutually beneficial business agreement to bring our programming back to its customers. While we raised the issue of censorship relating to our removal, we now believe in DirecTV’s commitment to distributing diverse viewpoints, including conservative ones. DirecTV has made clear during our negotiations that it has always been focused on protecting its customers from the rising programming costs across the pay TV industry and never intended to limit one perspective or to target conservative voices. We accept their position and believe that our new agreement with DirecTV will allow them to continue to be a go-to-source for one of the most diverse lineups of news programming, now with three conservative news networks including Newsmax.” Newsmax Media CEO Christopher Ruddy will be speaking at TALKERS 2023 on Friday, June 2 at Hofstra University.
grateful for the support Newsmax is receiving from radio hosts, wanted to speak out directly to the medium further explaining his position. (NOTE: Newsmax also has a footprint in the news/talk radio space as syndicator of the daily Rob Carson midday program.)
“We know from ‘The Twitter Files,’ that Twitter worked in collusion with federal agencies, including the FBI, to censor and restrict the speech of news media and public figures,” said Ruddy.
base.” But, Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy says, “This is a blatant act of political discrimination and censorship against Newsmax.” Newsmax says, “DirecTV pays cable license fees to all top 75 cable channels and to all 22 liberal news channels it carries. Almost all of these channels are paid hefty license fees significantly greater than Newsmax was seeking — and despite the fact that most of the channels have far lower ratings than Newsmax.” Ruddy adds, “The most extreme liberal channels, even with tiny ratings, get fees from AT&T’s DirecTV, but [in their view] Newsmax and OAN need to be deplatformed.” Conservative channel OAN was removed from the DirecTV platform in April of 2022.