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- Christopher Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax, said Sunday that the conservative channel would never become an outlet for President Donald Trump.
- But Newsmax would be open to giving Trump his own weekly show once he left the White House, Ruddy said.
- His comments followed a Wall Street Journal report that Trump allies were interested in acquiring and investing in Newsmax, trying to make it a competitor to Fox News.
- “Newsmax would never become ‘Trump TV,'” Ruddy told Variety in an interview Sunday evening.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy said Sunday that the conservative TV channel would never become an outlet for President Donald Trump, despite rumours about its acquisition by Trump allies.
“Newsmax would never become ‘Trump TV,'” Christopher Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax, said in an interview with Variety Sunday evening.
“We have always seen ourselves as an independent news agency, and we want to continue with that mission,” he said.
But Ruddy said Newsmax “would be open to talking to [Trump] about a weekly show” once he has left office January 20.
“He is going to be a political and media force after he leaves the White House,” he added.
His comments came after Hicks Equity Partners, an investment firm connected to the Republican National Committee, was reported to be exploring the possibility of acquiring and investing in Newsmax, per the Wall Street Journal.
Its intention was to set up a competitor to Fox News, the Journal reported.
Newsmax has supported Trump throughout the election. The outlet criticized Fox News' hosts after they rejected Trump's claims that election results in favor of President-elect Joe Biden were not valid.
Trump has also reposted some of the TV channel's clips on Twitter.
Ruddy said in the interview that "we are not actively selling," but that "investors, investment banks and strategic players" had expressed interest.
"We listen to them, but our main focus is continuing: We would like to overtake Fox News in the next 12 months, and I think it's do-able."
Media experts from CNN reported Wednesday that regular Fox News viewers have been switching to Newsmax after Fox declared Biden won the election.
Newsmax averaged 182,000 viewers during the election week starting November 1, according to Nielsen TV ratings, and it's been growing ever since, per CNN.
Newsmax's viewership increased 156% during the election week starting November 1, averaging 182,000 viewers across the seven days, according to Nielsen TV ratings per CNN and the Wall Street Journal.
The week beginning November 9, Newsmax accumulated 1 million viewers during prime-time TV hours, the Journal also reported.
Nielsen ratings showed that while Newsmax averaged 437,000 viewers on November 2, Fox averaged 1.86 million, per CNN — highlighting the gap between the two TV channels.
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