While some House Democrats this week were trying to discourage carriage of conservative cable/broadband channel Newsmax, it is going in the other direction. Newsmax said Tuesday (Feb. 23) it has launched on Vizio Smartcast, which means it will be available on VIZIO Smart TVs.
Vizio is currently the third largest TV manufacturer in Wi-Fi households with 13% of the market, according to Statista.
Newsmax TV, which got a boost when former President Donald Trump started tweeting his disfavor of Fox and switch to Newsmax and OANN has networks of choice, said it is now the fourth-highest-rated cable news channel.
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“Launching on Vizio SmartCast allows our viewers to simply plug in their new televisions and play Newsmax TV,’’ said Newsmax Media CEO Christopher Ruddy of the new option. “Newsmax is experiencing exponential growth and provides a much-needed perspective on the issues that many VIZIO viewers care about.”
Newsmax has been much in the news this week after a pair of Hill Democrats accused it of being a source of disinformation and a spur to extremism. Newsmax vigorously disputed the characterization.
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In addition, the network is expected to be a topic of conversation, along with Fox News and OANN, in a Hill hearing Wednesday on traditional media's role in promoting disinformation and extremism, a knock that has mostly been made against Web media giants including Google, Twitter, Amazon and Facebook.
