Just as opening statements were set to begin in a Delaware courthouse, Dominion Voting Systems agreed to settle its defamation suit against Fox for over $787 million.
I am disappointed too. I want an all-out, drag-out fight. I want tar and feathers for FOX. I want every single person, who took ivermectin because FOX said so, and then got COVID, every single person, who had lost a family member to COVID because FOX said it was completely harmless, to sue. I want pharmaceutical companies to sue FOX for saying COVID vaccines were harmful. I want that cesspool bombarded with lawsuits until it goes bankrupt.
The people who trusted fox on Covid brought into their own adventure and death by misadventure. The information was out there but they didn't want it. That is on them. And many paid for it with their lives. But it was their choice. We all had the same info, we didn't all make the same choices.
Very disappointed that the settlement did not require Fox to publicly admit on air and at repeated days and times that it knew that Trump's election fraud claims were lies. Since we won't get a public airing of Fox's lies, as a public service, here are my top 25 Fox admissions that we likely would have had heard at trial. If only Fox viewers would learn of these.
1. Two days before Jan. 6, Tucker Carlson texted someone: "We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can't wait."
2. Carlson added, of Trump: "I hate him passionately"
3. Regarding Trump's term in office, Carlson said: "We're all pretending we've got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it's been is too tough to digest. But come on. There really isn't an upside to Trump."
4. Regarding Trump's lawyers and Dominion, Carlson said: "This whole thing seems insane to me. And Sidney Powell won't release the evidence. Which I hate."
5. Carlson said that Powell was "making everyone paranoid and crazy, including me."
6. After Maria Bartiromo began airing Sidney Powell's meritless and deranged claims about Dominion, Carlson said "The software shit is absurd."
7. When Fox reporter Jacqui Heinrich accurately fact checked Trump's election lies, Carlson texted Hannity: "Please get her fired. Seriously. What the fuck. I'm actually shocked. It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It's measurably hurting the company. the stock price is down. Not a joke."
8. On 11/13, Carlson wrote that he wanted Trump to concede the election because "there wasn't enough fraud to change the outcome."
9. On or around 11/16, Carlson told his producer that "Sidney Powell is lying. Fucking bitch." And he described her as an "unguided missile," "dangerous as hell," and a "crazy person."
10. On 11/17, Calson called Powell a "lunatic"
11. On 11/18, Carlson told Laura Ingram that "Sidney Powell is lying by the way" and called her "insane."
12. On 11/18, regarding Powell and Giuliani's claims about fraud, Carlson said "It's unbelievably offensive to me. Our viewers are good people and they believe it."
13. On 11/21, Carlson sent a text saying that it was "shockingly reckless to accuse Dominion of fraud without proof, which he insisted, "there isn't any." And he referred to Powell as a "nutcase."
14. On 11/22, Carlson told Ingram that Powell was a "nut, as you said at the outset. . . I had to try to make the WH disavow her, which they obviously should have done long before."
15. Regarding the failure of Trump's team to disown what Powell and Giuliani were doing, Carlson said "they said nothing in public. Pretty disgusting."
16. On 11/23, Carlson said that Powell was "poison."
17. On 1/6/23, after the insurrection attempt, Carlson texted a producer that Trump was "a demonic force, a destroyer."
18. When someone said to Tucker Carlson "On the bright side - Trump has a pretty low rate of success in his business ventured," Carlson responded: "All of them fail. What he's good at is destroying things. He's the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong. It's so obvious."
19. Rupert Murdoch seriously doubted Trump's claims of "massive election fraud from the very beginning."
20. Fox gave a platform to conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell because, according to Murdoch, what matters "is not red or blue, it is green."
21. Murdoch admitted that he had the power to stop Fox News from airing false claims but affirmatively chose not to, saying, "I could have. But I did not."
22. Murdoch admitted that some of his top hosts on Fox News actively endorsed false claims on the air.
23. Murdoch described Trump and Giuliani in an email as "both increasingly mad."
24. After Trump lost the election, Murdoch said of Trump" "The real danger is what he might do as president. Apparently not sleeping and bouncing off the walls."
25. Murdoch disputed Trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen and agreed that Trump was a sore loser.
I, too was wishing intensely to see all those people - Tucker Carlson, Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, Jeannine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo (and most deliciously, Rupert Murdoch himself) - squirming on the stand under oath, and having to admit their lies on screen
Every.
Single.
Show. for, oh let's say a month straight. Hopefully, when it's time for Smartmatic to settle, they will hold firm on this.
On #7, I'd like to see Jacqui Heinrich take action against Fox. I don't know if she was ultimately fired, but I can't imagine her career prospects are terribly bright if she's still with Fox.
If she's still with them then she's forgiven. Otherwise they would have fired her.
Problem with working for fox is that you can't get a job in a reputable company after that. They tried to rehabilitate Megyn Kelly and she kept making remarks after remarks that were just ignorant. Jesus and Santa are white apparently, and white people wearing blackface is ok. and other weird junk. She is no longer working for a real news company but she did get to walk away with a huge payday and now she does a podcast on Sirius. I don't think anyone is going to offer big bucks to ex-fox people after that failed experiment. Shep Smith didn't get anywhere near the money Kelly did and his show is being taken off the air soon.
My 2nd post on this, but I just thought of something I can do on a minuscule level that will help me feel less helpless. Many businesses broadcast Fox News, like my gym and some hotel chains during breakfast. I am going to complain as a consumer each time I encounter this. Probably won’t get anywhere but businesses do care about money, and it is better for me than to just sit and stew about it all.
I used to change the channel in the gym locker room from fox to something else all the time! And thankfully they took out the TVs in the common workout areas and added machines that had individual ones
As I was paying for breakfast at a diner, the owner asked “How was everything?” I answered that I would’ve enjoyed everything more if Fox News on TV had not been blasting from every corner. His answer was “next time I will seat you in a room without any TVs.” Pretty discouraging.
Yup. I Don’t expect much but I always feel better being proactive. If its a small business, I’d tell them not to worry because I won’t be back. With the big chains, I plan to complain at the corporate level as well. Just something I CAN do.
Because, unlike a contemporary ruling, companies are not people and will not behave as such we cannot expect just desserts to evolve from corporate interests. Also, FOX will implode or simply dissolve into a sticky puddle of malodorous decomposition before ever it would change its spots; there is way too much profit on prevarication- this platform (and its similarly salacious outposts) enables their fanbase to justify their language, their actions, and, in some cases, inspire their gauche wardrobe.
That being said, we would all happily endorse a class action. We will call the plaintiff group the
“Dominion is not nearly done with its defamation lawsuits. It still has a case pending against OAN and another against Newsmax in the same court with the same judge in Delaware. And it has additional claims against many individuals who spread election lies, including MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, Overstock.com founder Patrick Byrne, and former Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.”
Thank you for explaining the background of the settlement. I hadn't realized how small Dominion's valuation was relative to the settlement. Once you explained it, it really does make sense (annoying and sad, but sensible).
I really hope that Dominion uses these funds to go hard after OAN, the MyPillow fanatic and the rest of the rogues gallery. I also hope that Smartmatic can dig even deeper and keep Fox squirming.
I would like to see Fox banned from public spaces on all Military bases since they have been shown to be truly anti-democratic.
As always, thank you for a very helpful and well-written explanation. Cheers.
One more thing I almost forgot - Fox will probably write off this payout as a business expense, thus making it taxpayer-subsidized. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.
I'm wondering how much of the payout will be done by their insurance company. Or can the insurance company tell them they are on their own since they were in the wrong...
I agree with the emotional response, but at the end of the day a lawsuit between two corporations really isn't about democracy at all. It's about M-O-N-E-Y. Fox will continue to roll on and Fox up America to the best of it's ability until it costs them too much money.
I'm disappointed...but then again...should've never put a private company in a possible democracy hero saving scenario. Apparently the only individuals that believe in accountability are those with morals. Money talks and bullshit walks.
I'd like to see a warning tag like on cigarette packs, warning that the channel is a fiction channel and should not be confused with news programs.
It was interesting to read that the Fox lawyers had been told that trying to turn the courtroom into a Fox News episode, with conjecture and lies presented in an attempt to confuse and mislead the jury, was expressly forbidden, but that they tried to "smuggle it in" anyway, asking the judge for time to speak to the jury uninterrupted or contradicted. When the judge said again, this will not be allowed, and you will be stopped and you will be reprimanded in front of the jury, they gave up the goat and decided to settle.
I would love to have been a fly on the wall to hear the lawyers discussing this very quick deal. Fox's team likely said, "Look, whatever they'll take up front, let's pay the parking ticket. If this stretches out, and it will, we've got to put Tucker, Maria, even Rupert on the stand, and they're going to squirm for weeks when presented with the email evidence. Even if we can stall the case, which we probably can, it's only going to look worse, especially with a reasonably good chance of losing." Dominion's attorneys knew for a much smaller company with a reputation on the line that they needed the money to go on operating. Probably they said to themselves half up front is better than even double what we're asking, especially with appeals, etc. It's going to take at least couple of years to get paid, even if we've gotten a bigger award than we've asked for. So Jay has it right. Not a win for democracy. But at least it's a win for Dominion.
My take away is the fight continues...and always will. Watched Good Night, Good Luck last night and it was very relevant to our current times...even though it occurred 70 years ago.
I would love to see a concrete proposal for one that would pass muster in court. I can’t think of one.
Now, if you have an issue with laws on Fox as a business, I’m with you: antitrust enforcement, reenacting limitations on broadcast station ownership, and reregulating cable to allow unbundling and a la carte ordering.
I also have an issue with allowing investors to buy citizenship, as Murdoch did. That’s thornier, but I’m ok with providing a level playing field there.
A friend suggested the following, which has a lot of merit: "How about the FCC requiring a notification similar to a parental warning , or viewer discretion advised , posted prior to the actual broadcast , stating something like : Content of this broadcast has been known to contain false information . Viewer discretion advised.." It might, for instance, be mandated ahead of the Tucker show, or the Hannity show, or the Pirro show, and on and on.
They don’t. But if you want to prevent Fox from having power as a business, then reregulate cable and allow a la carte cable packages and prohibit bundling
I wish that I was a billionaire. I would have gone to Dominion and offered to guarantee them the difference between what they got in pursuing the lawsuit and what Fox was offering to settle it for. If a legitimate action committee dedicated to that purpose had asked me for a contribution, I would've sent them a check with the ink still wet.
Thanks for explaining why dominion settled. Very disappointing but understandable. It is surprising to me that the justice department doesn’t find something to prosecute. A criminal prosecution would be so much more effective in enforcing accountability. Seems strange that we do not have laws about knowingly disseminating false information to discredit a valid election. Does the 1st amendment include the right to lie and jeopardize democracy?
"Does the 1st amendment include the right to lie and jeopardize democracy?" Yep. It's kinda the point - especially when it comes to politics. Anyone can say whatever they want, subject to libel/defamation - which are civil, not criminal. It is up to the citizenry to differentiate between political puffery and outright lies, and vote accoringly.
Technically, "broadcast" isn't what they do. Many broadcast rules, for instance those regarding profanity and nudity, do not generally apply to a cable network. Their owned stations are comparatively few, and operate under different rules than the mothership.
Exactly. They have proven that they are not acting "in the public interest".
While most of their money comes from cable channels that can't be touched, I'd be willing to bet that a significant portion of their actual viewership in rural parts of the country (i.e. very red parts) are viewing the free over-the-air broadcast. Removing a source of constant GQP propaganda for these folks would be a good thing for the country.
I am disappointed too. I want an all-out, drag-out fight. I want tar and feathers for FOX. I want every single person, who took ivermectin because FOX said so, and then got COVID, every single person, who had lost a family member to COVID because FOX said it was completely harmless, to sue. I want pharmaceutical companies to sue FOX for saying COVID vaccines were harmful. I want that cesspool bombarded with lawsuits until it goes bankrupt.
The people who trusted fox on Covid brought into their own adventure and death by misadventure. The information was out there but they didn't want it. That is on them. And many paid for it with their lives. But it was their choice. We all had the same info, we didn't all make the same choices.
Yes! Me too! It was unconscionable what they done and are still doing!
Very disappointed that the settlement did not require Fox to publicly admit on air and at repeated days and times that it knew that Trump's election fraud claims were lies. Since we won't get a public airing of Fox's lies, as a public service, here are my top 25 Fox admissions that we likely would have had heard at trial. If only Fox viewers would learn of these.
1. Two days before Jan. 6, Tucker Carlson texted someone: "We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can't wait."
2. Carlson added, of Trump: "I hate him passionately"
3. Regarding Trump's term in office, Carlson said: "We're all pretending we've got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it's been is too tough to digest. But come on. There really isn't an upside to Trump."
4. Regarding Trump's lawyers and Dominion, Carlson said: "This whole thing seems insane to me. And Sidney Powell won't release the evidence. Which I hate."
5. Carlson said that Powell was "making everyone paranoid and crazy, including me."
6. After Maria Bartiromo began airing Sidney Powell's meritless and deranged claims about Dominion, Carlson said "The software shit is absurd."
7. When Fox reporter Jacqui Heinrich accurately fact checked Trump's election lies, Carlson texted Hannity: "Please get her fired. Seriously. What the fuck. I'm actually shocked. It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It's measurably hurting the company. the stock price is down. Not a joke."
8. On 11/13, Carlson wrote that he wanted Trump to concede the election because "there wasn't enough fraud to change the outcome."
9. On or around 11/16, Carlson told his producer that "Sidney Powell is lying. Fucking bitch." And he described her as an "unguided missile," "dangerous as hell," and a "crazy person."
10. On 11/17, Calson called Powell a "lunatic"
11. On 11/18, Carlson told Laura Ingram that "Sidney Powell is lying by the way" and called her "insane."
12. On 11/18, regarding Powell and Giuliani's claims about fraud, Carlson said "It's unbelievably offensive to me. Our viewers are good people and they believe it."
13. On 11/21, Carlson sent a text saying that it was "shockingly reckless to accuse Dominion of fraud without proof, which he insisted, "there isn't any." And he referred to Powell as a "nutcase."
14. On 11/22, Carlson told Ingram that Powell was a "nut, as you said at the outset. . . I had to try to make the WH disavow her, which they obviously should have done long before."
15. Regarding the failure of Trump's team to disown what Powell and Giuliani were doing, Carlson said "they said nothing in public. Pretty disgusting."
16. On 11/23, Carlson said that Powell was "poison."
17. On 1/6/23, after the insurrection attempt, Carlson texted a producer that Trump was "a demonic force, a destroyer."
18. When someone said to Tucker Carlson "On the bright side - Trump has a pretty low rate of success in his business ventured," Carlson responded: "All of them fail. What he's good at is destroying things. He's the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong. It's so obvious."
19. Rupert Murdoch seriously doubted Trump's claims of "massive election fraud from the very beginning."
20. Fox gave a platform to conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell because, according to Murdoch, what matters "is not red or blue, it is green."
21. Murdoch admitted that he had the power to stop Fox News from airing false claims but affirmatively chose not to, saying, "I could have. But I did not."
22. Murdoch admitted that some of his top hosts on Fox News actively endorsed false claims on the air.
23. Murdoch described Trump and Giuliani in an email as "both increasingly mad."
24. After Trump lost the election, Murdoch said of Trump" "The real danger is what he might do as president. Apparently not sleeping and bouncing off the walls."
25. Murdoch disputed Trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen and agreed that Trump was a sore loser.
I, too was wishing intensely to see all those people - Tucker Carlson, Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, Jeannine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo (and most deliciously, Rupert Murdoch himself) - squirming on the stand under oath, and having to admit their lies on screen
Every.
Single.
Show. for, oh let's say a month straight. Hopefully, when it's time for Smartmatic to settle, they will hold firm on this.
On #7, I'd like to see Jacqui Heinrich take action against Fox. I don't know if she was ultimately fired, but I can't imagine her career prospects are terribly bright if she's still with Fox.
If she's still with them then she's forgiven. Otherwise they would have fired her.
Problem with working for fox is that you can't get a job in a reputable company after that. They tried to rehabilitate Megyn Kelly and she kept making remarks after remarks that were just ignorant. Jesus and Santa are white apparently, and white people wearing blackface is ok. and other weird junk. She is no longer working for a real news company but she did get to walk away with a huge payday and now she does a podcast on Sirius. I don't think anyone is going to offer big bucks to ex-fox people after that failed experiment. Shep Smith didn't get anywhere near the money Kelly did and his show is being taken off the air soon.
Although her accurate tweet was deleted, she is still with Fox as WH Correspondent.
My 2nd post on this, but I just thought of something I can do on a minuscule level that will help me feel less helpless. Many businesses broadcast Fox News, like my gym and some hotel chains during breakfast. I am going to complain as a consumer each time I encounter this. Probably won’t get anywhere but businesses do care about money, and it is better for me than to just sit and stew about it all.
I used to change the channel in the gym locker room from fox to something else all the time! And thankfully they took out the TVs in the common workout areas and added machines that had individual ones
😂Never thought of doing that, but no more suffering in silence for me!
As I was paying for breakfast at a diner, the owner asked “How was everything?” I answered that I would’ve enjoyed everything more if Fox News on TV had not been blasting from every corner. His answer was “next time I will seat you in a room without any TVs.” Pretty discouraging.
Yup. I Don’t expect much but I always feel better being proactive. If its a small business, I’d tell them not to worry because I won’t be back. With the big chains, I plan to complain at the corporate level as well. Just something I CAN do.
Because, unlike a contemporary ruling, companies are not people and will not behave as such we cannot expect just desserts to evolve from corporate interests. Also, FOX will implode or simply dissolve into a sticky puddle of malodorous decomposition before ever it would change its spots; there is way too much profit on prevarication- this platform (and its similarly salacious outposts) enables their fanbase to justify their language, their actions, and, in some cases, inspire their gauche wardrobe.
That being said, we would all happily endorse a class action. We will call the plaintiff group the
Reality Based class.
Reality-Based persons v FOX Corporation
“Dominion is not nearly done with its defamation lawsuits. It still has a case pending against OAN and another against Newsmax in the same court with the same judge in Delaware. And it has additional claims against many individuals who spread election lies, including MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, Overstock.com founder Patrick Byrne, and former Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.”
Looking forward to Episodes 2, 3, 4 … 😊
And now they have the funds to keep fighting all the rest of them, bankrolled, as it were, by Fox...
It's not all bad!
Thank you for explaining the background of the settlement. I hadn't realized how small Dominion's valuation was relative to the settlement. Once you explained it, it really does make sense (annoying and sad, but sensible).
I really hope that Dominion uses these funds to go hard after OAN, the MyPillow fanatic and the rest of the rogues gallery. I also hope that Smartmatic can dig even deeper and keep Fox squirming.
I would like to see Fox banned from public spaces on all Military bases since they have been shown to be truly anti-democratic.
As always, thank you for a very helpful and well-written explanation. Cheers.
One more thing I almost forgot - Fox will probably write off this payout as a business expense, thus making it taxpayer-subsidized. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.
I'm wondering how much of the payout will be done by their insurance company. Or can the insurance company tell them they are on their own since they were in the wrong...
I sure hope the insurance company tells them to get bent and threatens to sue if they persist.
I do wonder since Fox was in the wrong if they can do that. I hope they can. But either way, I see Fox's insurance premiums going up, way up.
I agree with the emotional response, but at the end of the day a lawsuit between two corporations really isn't about democracy at all. It's about M-O-N-E-Y. Fox will continue to roll on and Fox up America to the best of it's ability until it costs them too much money.
I'm disappointed...but then again...should've never put a private company in a possible democracy hero saving scenario. Apparently the only individuals that believe in accountability are those with morals. Money talks and bullshit walks.
I'd like to see a warning tag like on cigarette packs, warning that the channel is a fiction channel and should not be confused with news programs.
It was interesting to read that the Fox lawyers had been told that trying to turn the courtroom into a Fox News episode, with conjecture and lies presented in an attempt to confuse and mislead the jury, was expressly forbidden, but that they tried to "smuggle it in" anyway, asking the judge for time to speak to the jury uninterrupted or contradicted. When the judge said again, this will not be allowed, and you will be stopped and you will be reprimanded in front of the jury, they gave up the goat and decided to settle.
That would be brilliant!
I would love to have been a fly on the wall to hear the lawyers discussing this very quick deal. Fox's team likely said, "Look, whatever they'll take up front, let's pay the parking ticket. If this stretches out, and it will, we've got to put Tucker, Maria, even Rupert on the stand, and they're going to squirm for weeks when presented with the email evidence. Even if we can stall the case, which we probably can, it's only going to look worse, especially with a reasonably good chance of losing." Dominion's attorneys knew for a much smaller company with a reputation on the line that they needed the money to go on operating. Probably they said to themselves half up front is better than even double what we're asking, especially with appeals, etc. It's going to take at least couple of years to get paid, even if we've gotten a bigger award than we've asked for. So Jay has it right. Not a win for democracy. But at least it's a win for Dominion.
My take away is the fight continues...and always will. Watched Good Night, Good Luck last night and it was very relevant to our current times...even though it occurred 70 years ago.
WHERE is the Federal Law that makes what Fox "news" did a criminal offense????
I liked this because I thought you were being ironic. Such a law isn’t possible under the 1st amendment
I'm not sure such a law is per se unconstitutional. Speech has some limits. It's not clear they can be drawn to include what Fox has done.
I would love to see a concrete proposal for one that would pass muster in court. I can’t think of one.
Now, if you have an issue with laws on Fox as a business, I’m with you: antitrust enforcement, reenacting limitations on broadcast station ownership, and reregulating cable to allow unbundling and a la carte ordering.
I also have an issue with allowing investors to buy citizenship, as Murdoch did. That’s thornier, but I’m ok with providing a level playing field there.
If I'm not mistaken the First Amendment has limitations! What they are exactly I'm not sure but will check out
A friend suggested the following, which has a lot of merit: "How about the FCC requiring a notification similar to a parental warning , or viewer discretion advised , posted prior to the actual broadcast , stating something like : Content of this broadcast has been known to contain false information . Viewer discretion advised.." It might, for instance, be mandated ahead of the Tucker show, or the Hannity show, or the Pirro show, and on and on.
I don't think the FCC has any jurisdiction here, but would need to look more closely.
They don’t. But if you want to prevent Fox from having power as a business, then reregulate cable and allow a la carte cable packages and prohibit bundling
Brilliant!
I wish that I was a billionaire. I would have gone to Dominion and offered to guarantee them the difference between what they got in pursuing the lawsuit and what Fox was offering to settle it for. If a legitimate action committee dedicated to that purpose had asked me for a contribution, I would've sent them a check with the ink still wet.
Thanks for explaining why dominion settled. Very disappointing but understandable. It is surprising to me that the justice department doesn’t find something to prosecute. A criminal prosecution would be so much more effective in enforcing accountability. Seems strange that we do not have laws about knowingly disseminating false information to discredit a valid election. Does the 1st amendment include the right to lie and jeopardize democracy?
I'm not aware of a law that makes what Fox did illegal. We would need to craft such a law, but it might not survive judicial scrutiny.
The point is there SHOULD BE!
No one can prevent another person from lying other than in 2 instances:
1. Someone was defrauded by the lie, suffered a loss, and the law gives that person standing to sue. (I can’t sue someone for lying & defrauding you.)
2. Someone was defamed by the lie, and the lie passes the kinds of tests we saw in this case.
Otherwise, you are going down the road to just prohibiting speech you don’t like, and that way lies authoritarianism.
"Does the 1st amendment include the right to lie and jeopardize democracy?" Yep. It's kinda the point - especially when it comes to politics. Anyone can say whatever they want, subject to libel/defamation - which are civil, not criminal. It is up to the citizenry to differentiate between political puffery and outright lies, and vote accoringly.
Why can't we take their broadcast license away?
They aren't broadcasting on the public airwaves. They are on private cable carriers.
Technically, "broadcast" isn't what they do. Many broadcast rules, for instance those regarding profanity and nudity, do not generally apply to a cable network. Their owned stations are comparatively few, and operate under different rules than the mothership.
Exactly. They have proven that they are not acting "in the public interest".
While most of their money comes from cable channels that can't be touched, I'd be willing to bet that a significant portion of their actual viewership in rural parts of the country (i.e. very red parts) are viewing the free over-the-air broadcast. Removing a source of constant GQP propaganda for these folks would be a good thing for the country.