In a legal skirmish that’s captured the attention of the media world, a federal judge in Florida has dismissed Newsmax’s high-profile antitrust lawsuit against Fox News—at least for now. The case, filed just days ago on September 3, 2025, accused Fox News of wielding its dominance in the conservative cable news sphere to squeeze out competitors like Newsmax, allegedly through a variety of anticompetitive and even intimidating tactics. But as Judge Aileen Cannon made clear in her ruling, the fight is far from over.
Judge Cannon, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, tossed the lawsuit on September 5, 2025, citing what’s known in legal circles as a “shotgun pleading.” In plainer English, the problem was that Newsmax’s 31-page complaint repeated the same allegations in each legal claim, muddling the issues and making it tough for the court to parse the specifics. "The Court has an independent obligation to dismiss such pleadings and require repleader," Cannon wrote, according to Business Insider. She instructed Newsmax that any amended complaint "must not contain any successive counts that incorporate all prior allegations," warning that failure to comply could result in the case being tossed for good.
Newsmax, for its part, insists this is just a bump in the road. “We understand this is just a technical matter and our law firm is refiling,” a spokesperson told multiple outlets, including the New York Times and CNBC. The network’s CEO, Christopher Ruddy, echoed that sentiment, calling the dismissal “a technical issue with the filing” in a text to CNN. The company now has until September 11, 2025, to refile its lawsuit in a form that meets the judge’s procedural requirements.
At the heart of the dispute are Newsmax’s allegations that Fox News has abused its market power to maintain a monopoly over conservative cable news. The original complaint accused Fox of pressuring pay-TV distributors—think Hulu, Sling, and Fubo—not to carry Newsmax and other right-leaning channels. It also claimed Fox imposed financial penalties on distributors who dared to carry rivals. Newsmax further alleged that Fox tried to block the network from major streaming platforms, pressured guests not to appear on Newsmax, and even ran online smear campaigns and hired private investigators to damage the company’s credibility.
“Fox may have profited from exclusionary contracts and intimidation tactics for years, but those days are over,” Ruddy declared in a statement provided to Straight Arrow News. “This lawsuit is about restoring fairness to the market and ensuring that Americans have real choice in the news they watch. If we prevail, Fox’s damages could be tripled under federal law—an outcome that would send a powerful message to any company that thinks it can monopolize public discourse.”
Newsmax’s legal team is seeking not just monetary damages but also a permanent injunction to bar Fox from continuing the alleged conduct. They argue that Fox’s tactics have denied “millions of Americans the diversity of viewpoints that a healthy marketplace of ideas requires,” as stated in a company release cited by Axios.
Fox News, however, has been dismissive—bordering on scornful—of the lawsuit from the start. “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 spokesperson said in a statement distributed to several outlets, including Business Insider and CNBC. The network, which has been the dominant force in conservative cable news since its launch in 1996, currently boasts 1.48 million average viewers in the second quarter of 2025, compared to Newsmax’s 141,000. Even Newsmax’s own data, as reported by CNN, shows the network reaches 26 million quarterly viewers and over 60 million U.S. homes, but it’s struggled to convert that reach into a loyal, consistent audience. In fact, Newsmax’s total viewership declined year-over-year from 2024, while Fox’s numbers grew.
The stakes of this case are significant, not just for the two companies but for the broader media landscape. Newsmax, which went public earlier this year with a market capitalization of $1.7 billion (compared to Fox Corp.’s $25 billion), is positioning itself as the underdog standing up to a media behemoth. The company claims that, absent Fox’s “exclusionary scheme,” it would have achieved greater pay-TV distribution and grown into a more valuable media company. The lawsuit, if allowed to proceed, could force a reckoning over how media giants leverage their influence in an increasingly fragmented—and competitive—news ecosystem.
Legal experts note that “shotgun pleadings” are a common stumbling block in complex lawsuits. Judge Cannon’s order was clear that the primary issue was procedural, not substantive. She emphasized that the most common type of shotgun complaint involves multiple counts where each one “adopts the allegations of all preceding counts, causing each successive count to carry all that came before and the last count to be a combination of the entire complaint.” The judge’s ruling gives Newsmax a roadmap for how to refile, but also sets a high bar for clarity and specificity.
The personalities involved have also drawn attention. Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, made headlines last year when she dismissed the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump, ruling that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith violated the Constitution—a decision that was quickly appealed. The Department of Justice later dropped that case and another unrelated criminal matter against Trump following his re-election, citing a longstanding policy against prosecuting sitting presidents.
As the deadline for refiling approaches, industry watchers are keenly observing what comes next. Will Newsmax’s amended complaint survive procedural scrutiny and force a deeper look at Fox’s business practices? Or will the case falter again, leaving Fox’s dominance unchallenged in court? One thing is certain: in the ever-competitive world of cable news, this legal battle is far from settled—and the implications could ripple well beyond the courtroom.
For now, Newsmax has signaled its intent to press on. Whether this David-and-Goliath fight will ultimately reshape the conservative media market, or simply reinforce the status quo, is a question only time—and perhaps another round in federal court—will answer.
