Viewers who have tuned into the conservative news channel Newsmax in recent weeks may think they are watching a telethon.

The Boca Raton, Fla.-based outfit’s anchors have been pounding away at satellite TV provider DirecTV, which dropped Newsmax on Jan. 25 after the two sides failed to come to terms on a new carriage agreement. There have been pleas urging viewers to call the El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV and its majority stakeholder, AT&T, and demand the return of Newsmax to DirecTV’s channel lineup.

Such disputes are common in the pay TV industry, but this one has taken on the look of a nasty political campaign. On air and online, Newsmax has complained, without evidence, that DirecTV’s actions are driven by its disdain for conservatives.

The controversial network has described DirecTV’s action as “de-platforming,” an act of censorship and an attempt to silence conservative voices.

Republican members of Congress — many of whom depend on Newsmax to give them free range to air their views with little pushback — have called for investigative hearings into DirecTV’s action on top of the recent ones held to probe the political motivations of tech companies.

DirecTV executives say Newsmax’s complaints have not had a significant impact on its business, but they are taken aback by the network’s actions.

“Newsmax is using its own newsroom platforms to obscure facts with misleading information — including dozens of daily blog posts, a daily stream of social from corporate media platforms and two-plus hours of on-air programming daily all in pursuit of its own business interests,” the company said in a statement.

DirecTV maintains that its decision to drop Newsmax is strictly business-driven. Pay television providers are under growing pressure as more consumers drop their subscriptions due to rising costs and the popularity of streaming platforms.

“When we’re facing even more intense cost pressure, then we have to squint at that deal extra hard and make that determination for our product and for our customers,” said Rob Thun, chief content officer for DirecTV, in an interview.

DirecTV has offered Newsmax to 13 million subscribers since its launch in 2014 but did not pay a fee as it does for other, more established networks. In its latest offer, DirecTV said it was willing to keep Newsmax in its lineup at the same terms, without any compensation.

Newsmax has argued that it’s worth paying for, asking for about $1 per subscriber annually, due to its audience size and investment in correspondents and anchors.

Chris Ruddy, chief executive and the majority shareholder of Newsmax Media, links DirecTV’s position to AT&T’s tensions with former President Trump.

Trump’s administration unsuccessfully acted to block AT&T’s merger with Time Warner in 2017 because he was angry over CNN’s coverage of him. The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit, but a judge ruled in favor of AT&T and the deal was completed.

Several Newsmax hosts are unapologetic advocates of Trump — his former press secretary Sean Spicer has a daily program — and it is the only network that continues to air his campaign rallies live.

Earlier this year, DirecTV dropped One America News, a small San Diego-based right-wing channel that aggressively pushed Trump’s false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. OAN, which also was seeking carriage fees, claimed the decision to pull the channel was politically motivated.

Ruddy has a lot riding on his battle with DirecTV, as any deal Newsmax makes can affect the terms of its pacts with other pay TV providers. If Newsmax agrees to allow DirecTV to carry it without fees, other payments could go away as well.

DirecTV argues that Newsmax is asking its customers to pay for a channel it can get for free as an app and on various streaming platforms. Ruddy said Newsmax plans to end the stream later this year, replacing it with a news headline service.

Shortly after dropping Newsmax, DirecTV added another conservative talk channel, the First, which includes such personalities as former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly and Dana Loesch, a onetime spokesperson for the National Rifle Assn.

The First, which also streams for free on a variety of platforms, is not receiving a carriage fee.

Thun said that carrying the First demonstrates a commitment by DirecTV to offer a range of political views.

One of Newsmax’s on-air talking points asserts that DirecTV is willing to give fees to 22 “liberal channels.” The list is dubious as it includes business networks Bloomberg and CNBC, both of which never met a free-market capitalist they didn’t like. The Weather Channel, a cable TV staple, is on the list because it mentions climate change in its coverage of historic storm events.

What most of the channels on the list do have in common is they are part of larger companies that have leverage when negotiating carriage deals.