One America News Has Struggled Since the 2020 Election

One America News faces multiple lawsuits for false claims made about the 2020 election. Learn what happened after OAN lost most of its national distributors.

Nov. 29 2022, Published 11:57 a.m. ET

The conservative cable news channel One America News Network (OANN) has had a rough time of it since the 2020 election. The network, founded in 2013 by Robert Herring, is known for far-right content and unwavering support of former President Donald Trump. But not many distributors broadcast the network. So, what happened to One America News?

OAN has been plagued by lawsuits since the last presidential election when false claims of rigged ballots and faulty voting machines ran rampant. The network is facing lawsuits from both Dominion and Smartmatic, companies that provided voting machines in 2020. The voting machine companies claim to have lost business due to the disinformation spread by OANN.

What happened to One America News?

Though it may appear that OAN has been canceled, the network still exists at the end of 2022. However, the company is struggling to find distributors willing to carry its programming due to the heavily pro-Trump, far-right nature of its shows.

OAN stated in 2019 that it was available in about 35 million American households. Nielsen Media Research at that time said its viewership was an estimated 14,000. However, by July 2022, OAN was only available to a few hundred thousand subscribers to local cable providers.

DirecTV and Verizon Communications both ceased their partnerships with One America News, drastically cutting the availability of the conservative network across the country.

In October 2022, Bloomberg reported that OAN was working on a new strategy to reach households: the use of subchannels via antenna. According to Bloomberg, OAN airs for free on over-the-air channels in about 30 markets. The number is expected to grow to 100 by the end of 2022.

Approximately 15 percent of U.S. households currently use an antenna to supplement their TV viewing and streaming subscriptions.

Here’s where you can still watch OANN.

With the tactics OANN is using, it’s attempting to hold onto viewers and survive. The network was particularly concerned about getting its content into households leading up to the midterm elections.

Dominion and Smartmatic are seeking billions of dollars in damages.

The two voting machine companies, Dominion and Smartmatic, are each seeking over $1 billion in damages from various defendants. According to Forbes, Dominion is seeking about $1.6 billion in total in damages from OANN, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, Newsmax, Fox News, and Fox Corp.

Forbes didn't specify how much Smartmatic is seeking in damages from OAN, but its Fox News lawsuit is seeking $2.7 billion.

Both of the companies allege that they have lost significant business due to the harmful and false claims made by right-wing networks including OANN.