Right-wing US media network Newsmax is suing Fox News over what it claims are anticompetitive tactics to supress competition, teeing up a legal battle in the American conservative news space.
The lawsuit, filed in a Florida federal court, accuses Fox News of using its market power to coerce TV providers to restrict competing right-leaning channels.
"Newsmax cannot sue their way out of their own competitive failures in the marketplace to chase headlines simply because they can't attract viewers," a Fox News spokesperson said.
The company, owned by billionaire Rupert Murdoch, is consistently ranked the most popular conservative news outlet in the US with a market value of nearly $26bn (£19bn).
Fox News "has long engaged in an exclusionary scheme to increase and maintain its dominance in the market for US right-leaning pay TV news," lawyers for Newsmax wrote in its antitrust complaint.
