The cable provider cut ties with the right-wing media outlet in late January after the companies failed to reach an agreement. The move angered Republican lawmakers, who echoed Newsmax’s claims the severance was politically motivated.
Some conservatives in congress threatened to use their powers to compel AT&T, which owns DirecTV, to account for its decision. But Newsmax said Wednesday a deal had been made.
“Fortunately, it’s become clear that DirecTV supports diversified perspectives, including conservative voices,” Newsmax tweeted.
Signage for Newsmax is displayed at the National Rifle Association annual meeting in Houston, Texas on May 28, 2022. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
DirecTV, which immediately replaced Newsmax with another conservative outlet in January, told the Daily News in a statement its “all-too-common carriage dispute” with the feverishly pro-Trump network ended in “mutually agreeable business terms.”
Details about the companies’ agreement on carriage fees — the rate a TV provider pays individual networks — were not disclosed. DirecTV has consistently maintained the dispute was never about politics.
But returning to satellite TV isn’t the end of Newsmax’s concerns.
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The network faces multi-billion dollar lawsuits from election technology companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic in connection with the network’s dubious reporting on the 2020 election. Those companies are also suing OAN, which was dropped by DirecTV in April, as well as Fox News, where pre-trial information appears to indicate the outlet’s hosts and executives knew inflammatory information the station was reporting was false.
Following Wednesday’s news, conservative viewers flocked to Twitter asking what Newsmax’s return to DirecTV means for OAN. A DirectTV spokesman said the company “moved on” from OAN and has no plans to bring back that station.
A San Diego judge ruled against OAN in January, after the network accused DirecTV of breach of contract when it decided not to renew their arrangement.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Longtime New England Patriots linebacker Dont’a Hightower, who won three Super Bowl championships over his nine-year career, officially announced his retirement Tuesday.
“I can’t think of a better story than the one I wrote in New England,” Hightower said in an essay posted on The Players’ Tribune website. “So this is a happy day for me … Today, I’m totally at peace knowing that I gave this franchise every ounce of sweat I had left.”
The 33-year-old, nicknamed “Mr. February” by coach Bill Belichick because of his knack for making clutch plays in Super Bowls, didn’t play in 2020 as a COVID-19 opt-out, and he also sat out the 2022 season.
Hightower played in 117 regular-season games (114 starts) and totaled 569 tackles and 27 sacks. He appeared in 17 playoff games, starting all of them, amassing 81 tackles and three sacks.
He was one of the hardest-hitting linebackers in the NFL during his career, all spent in New England, and his versatility to play both off the line of scrimmage and then on the line as a pass-rusher made him a valuable chess piece in Belichick’s always-morphing schemes.
Among his most clutch plays were a strip sack of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan in Super Bowl LI to help spark the Patriots’ comeback from a 28-3 second-half deficit, and a bruising tackle of Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch near the goal line on the play that preceded Malcolm Butler‘s game-saving interception in Super Bowl XLIX.
A native of Lewisburg, Tennessee, who played at the University of Alabama and won two national championships with the Crimson Tide, Hightower joined the Patriots as a first-round draft pick in 2012.
“I appreciate everyone who helped me make this dream come true,” Hightower said. “But I especially want to thank my mom [L’Tanya]. None of this happens without her.”
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June 6, 2020; Las Vegas, NV, USA; A general view of the octagon prior to UFC 250 at the UFC APEX. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via USA TODAY Sports
ZURICH — Russia and Belarus teams were excluded by the International Ice Hockey Federation on Wednesday from all its world championships next season, including the women’s event in the United States.
The IIHF cited security concerns for players, competition staff and fans — because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — to extend the exclusion that will stretch beyond two years when the 2023-24 season is over.
“It is too soon,” IIHF president Luc Tardif said about letting Russia return. “Too many risks.”
The women’s worlds are set to be played in the United States in March or April next year, and the men’s event in the Czech Republic is scheduled for May 2023.
Ice hockey is a favorite sport played by both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
The IIHF has followed guidance given by the International Olympic Committee within days of Russia starting the war in February 2022 to remove Russian teams from international competitions and to find new hosts for events the country was to stage.
However, the IOC is now pushing Olympic sports’ governing bodies to find ways to include Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutrals in qualifying events for the 2024 Paris Games.
The IOC executive board is due to discuss the Russian issue at a meeting Tuesday in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Tardif, speaking after a decision by the ruling council he chairs, said the IIHF must decide in the next year if Russia and Belarus can take part in the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Games.
Following the fallout over the past two weeks in the U.S. banking industry, the Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate by 25 basis points (bps) on Wednesday, citing the need for the inflation rate to return to 2% over the long run.
Fed Raises Rate Despite Calamity in the U.S. Banking Sector
It’s been a rough two weeks for the U.S. economy after the fall of Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank. After these bank failures took place, the Federal Reserve announced the creation of the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) and announced that uninsured depositors of Signature Bank and Silicon Valley would be made whole. After the turmoil in the banking industry, some experts suspected the Fed would not raise the benchmark rate this month.
On Wednesday at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) revealed that it would raise the rate by 25bps. “The committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run,” the FOMC said. “In support of these goals, the committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 4-3/4 to 5 percent. The committee will closely monitor incoming information and assess the implications for monetary policy.”
In addition, the Fed published the central bank’s “Summary of Economic Projections,” which suggests the inflation rate can reach 2.1% by 2025 and 2% over the longer run. By 2025, the FOMC projections see the federal funds rate reduced down to 3.1%. Following the FOMC’s statement and projections report, equity markets jumped higher on the news, with three out of four of the U.S. benchmark indices in the green.
Fed’s “Summary of Economic Projections.”
Crypto assets dropped after the small increase from the Fed, with bitcoin (BTC) nearing the $29K range at $28,700 at 2:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday. But by 2:45 p.m., BTC had quickly dropped down to the $27,876 per unit range. At present, BTC’s USD value is hovering just above the $28K zone.
While cryptos had a mixed reaction to the Fed news, precious metals held strong. Both gold and silver jumped on the Fed hike, rising 1.6% to 2.5% higher against the greenback. Overall, the FOMC statement noted that recent indicators have shown “modest growth in spending and production.”
Further, the Fed says that while “job gains have picked up in recent months and are running at a robust pace, [and] the unemployment rate has remained low, inflation remains elevated.”
After the FOMC press statement, Fed chair Jerome Powell insisted the U.S. banking system “is sound and resilient with strong capital and liquidity.” Powell added, “we think our monetary policy tool works, and we think … our rate hikes were well telegraphed to the markets, and many banks have managed to handle them.”
What do you think the Fed’s decision to raise interest rates means for the U.S. economy? Share your thoughts about this subject in the comments section below.
Jamie Redman
Jamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 6,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.
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