One America News Network is set to lose its last major cable carrier when its agreement with Verizon ends at the end of July. OAN and Verizon were unable to reach a new agreement.
In a statement quoted by the Daily Beast, Verizon said, “Our negotiation with OAN has been a typical, business-as-usual carriage negotiation,” but added, “OAN failed to agree to fair terms.”
Effective July 31, Verizon will no longer have the rights to OAN programming. Verizon said the programming will be removed from the Fios TV lineup.
OAN was dropped from DirecTV on April 5 after their carriage deal was also not renewed. OAN is still carried on Alaska’s General Communications Inc. and digital platform Vidgo, which together provide less than 200,000 subscribers.
The channel is also available on the free livestreaming service KlowdTV.
In lieu of cable subscriptions, OAN has also made a pivot to streaming. Next TV reports that OAN “is now selling itself via a live-streaming 24/7 direct-to-consumer app for $4.99 a month, $53.85 a year,” called OAN Plus.
Alex Kopacz, Executive Vice President of Content Distribution and Strategy at the network, told Next TV, “We have been incredibly encouraged by the momentum that our OAN Plus channel is building in broadcast and we continue to hear that the significance and relevance of the OAN brand is valuable.”
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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