BIG NEWS: DirecTV will stop carrying OAN! Bloomberg reported on January 14, 2022, that DirecTV notified OAN’s parent company that their contract will not be renewed when it expires in April, ending OAN’s primary source of income and its ability to be broadcast to millions of households. This is a major development for democracy and against OAN’s brand of white supremacist extremism.
Verizon Fios still reportedly offers OAN; if you are a Verizon Fios customer, please contact Verizon (1-888-553-1533, press 0 to reach an attendant) to tell them that you expect Verizon to follow DirecTV’s lead and drop OAN from Fios.
News broke this week that AT&T, the world’s largest communications company, is singlehandedly bankrolling One America News, which spreads white supremacist propaganda, conspiracy theories, and COVID-19 misinformation on AT&T’s DirecTV. It’s shameful. AT&T must drop dangerous network OAN from DirecTV now!
Why is this important?
Back in June, an OAN host suggested that “traitors" who "stole" the election should be executed. OAN spreads dangerous messages like these every single day, powered by the income from AT&T.
And court records show that not only does AT&T provide tens of millions of dollars in revenue for OAN, AT&T allegedly proposed the idea of a right-wing show for its satellite service, DirecTV, the only cable provider that gives OAN a platform to spread its dangerous messages.
Even OAN lawyer Patrick Nellies acknowledged that if OAN loses or isn’t renewed by AT&T's DirecTV, the company would “go out of business tomorrow,” which shows just how much power AT&T has to stop OAN.
And AT&T isn’t just giving a platform and singlehandedly bankrolling conspiracy theory network OAN, it also donated almost $300,000 to the Texas lawmakers who sponsored or co-sponsored the horrible abortion ban.
Unfortunately, that’s not all. AT&T was also among the corporations that committed to stop donating PAC money to Republicans who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election and fueled the insurrection, but it broke that commitment and has since donated thousands, hoping we wouldn't notice.
AT&T is fueling attacks on our democracy by propping up and enabling white supremacy propaganda and conspiracy theory network OAN and by funneling PAC donations to insurrectionists. AT&T must drop OAN from DirecTV now.
