DirecTV’s decision to drop One America News Network puts pressure on the conservative cable outlet to replace that lost revenue, possibly by building out its online presence.
That will be a steep hill to climb. The number of people installing OAN’s app has plummeted in the past year after surging around the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Meanwhile, YouTube doesn’t promote OAN’s videos and has suspended the outlet from selling ads after it violated its policies on misinformation.
For now, OAN’s strategy appears focused on finding new distributors in the traditional cable-TV business. In a video last week, Robert Herring Sr., OAN’s founder and chief executive officer, called on viewers to pressure TV providers, like Dish Network Corp. and Charter Communications Inc., better known as Spectrum, to carry the channel. Herring didn’t promote OAN’s app as an alternative for DirecTV customers, who will soon lose the channel, but did say that “we have a lot of options.”
On Jan. 14, DirecTV said it plans to drop OAN, which has been criticized for spreading misinformation about the pandemic and the 2020 election. DirecTV’s decision was first reported by Bloomberg News.
OAN relied heavily on revenue from DirecTV subscribers. In 2020, an OAN lawyer said in court that if the channel’s DirecTV contract ended, “the company would go out of business tomorrow,” Reuters has reported.
Smaller Providers
Only a few smaller TV providers, like Verizon Fios, still carry OAN in their channel lineups. The network lost coverage last year on Prism TV, a small telecom operator that phased out its video service.
But OAN is still widely available online. It has an app, One America News Plus, which can be purchased on streaming platforms like Roku. It’s also on Pluto TV, ViacomCBS Inc.’s free streaming TV service.
The irony is that OAN was an early adopter of streaming. In 2016, Herring Networks launched KlowdTV, betting that an online bundle of TV channels that included OAN, Newsmax and InfoWars would attract conservative-minded cord-cutters.
But the Herrings didn’t heavily promote KlowdTV, according to Angelo Carusone, president of the left-leaning group Media Matters for America.
“Why they didn’t pound the pavement and try to sign up streaming subscribers is beyond me,” he said.
Herring Networks didn’t return a request for comment about its streaming business.
Its app, One America News Plus, has lost momentum in the past year. In January 2021, 517,000 people installed it, according to the data firm Sensor Tower. By December 2021, only 14,000 people installed it. The app, One America News Plus, charges $4.99 a month for a subscription.
YouTube Headwinds
OAN’s business on YouTube has also faced headwinds. In November 2020, YouTube suspended OAN from publishing new videos for a week after a post claimed the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine was a cure for Covid-19. YouTube also suspended OAN from its partner program so the channel can’t make money from advertising in its videos.
OAN hasn’t reapplied to the program or appealed the decision, according to a YouTube spokesperson.
OAN “is not an authoritative news source,” the YouTube spokesperson added, meaning its videos won’t be promoted on the platform or shown high up in search results for queries about elections.
In the video which appeared last week on OAN, Herring said that “we don’t know exactly what we are going to do yet.” But his company recently brought in new help to expand its reach. This month, it hired Alex Kopacz to work on its distribution strategy. Kopacz previously worked at the Law & Crime network, where he struck deals to grow the true crime channel’s presence on free ad-supported streaming services.
There’s always the possibility that Herring connects with former president Donald Trump, who is building out his own online media offering through a publicly traded company called Digital World Acquisition Corp.
Jon Klein, a former president of CNN’s U.S. network, said OAN’s lack of a robust streaming business “illustrates the folly of aiming at the present as opposed to architecting for the future.”
Klein said OAN will need the passion of its hard-core fans if it wants to attract more subscribers online.
“Passion sells subscriptions,” Klein said. “If they don’t have that then they don’t have the makings of a successful direct-to-consumer business.”
