Turns out conservative cable channel One America News Network isn't backing Democrat Gigi Sohn for the FCC after all.

Network founder Robert Herring went on his own channel this week to make that clear after his son, Charles, came out in support of Sohn last month citing her efforts to get independent voices, including conservative ones, carriage on large distribution platforms. Charles Herring is president of the network, while his dad is CEO.

Chris Ruddy, founder of conservative network Newsmax, also supported Sohn for much the same reason, leading some to point out the strange bedfellows of progressive Sohn and those execs.

Sohn pointed to that support from the right during her nomination hearing and conservative Republican firebrand Ted Cruz (R-Texas) cited that support from conservative nets as giving him some comfort, though likely not enough to vote for her.

But after Charles Herring's endorsement, Robert said he had to "set something straight for the company." One thing that clearly triggered Robert Herring's rebuttal of his son was that Public Knowledge, which Sohn helped found and lead, but has not worked for in a number of years, called for AT&T to take OANN off the air over what the group said was its peddling of conspiracy theories and falsehoods. 

Herring held up a copy of the group's statement about the network as he said OANN did not support her. He said there was no way he or the company would ever support her and that she had never done anything for the company. "How my son decided he wanted to, I don't know," he said. "She shouldn't be anywhere near the FCC as far as I am concerned," saying she was trying to censor conservative outlets.

Another issue with Herring was Sohn's tweet, whose rhetoric she conceded at her nomination hearing was probably over the top, that Fox News was "state sponsored propaganda," a view not hers alone in the Democratic party. Herring said he had reached out to Fox to apologize for his son's endorsement and signaling he would reverse it.

Sohn was slammed by The Wall Street Journal in an editorial last month titled “A Media Censor for the FCC?” The question mark suggested the jury was still out, but the editorial appeared to be more of an exclamation point. It said her “strident partisanship” should disqualify her and that she “favors deploying the agency’s regulatory power to shackle broadband providers and silence conservative voices.”

As a top aide to FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, Sohn was a big advocate for the imposition of net neutrality rules and was no fan of Sinclair Broadcast Group for its perceived conservative bias (nor were many other Democrats).

Following that editorial, Charles Herring issued a statement on the OAN website saying while he was fully aware of her views he was "even more knowledgeable on her strong belief and advocacy for diversity in the programming lineup, especially in news, regardless of conflicts with her personal views.”

The Herrings for years has been fighting to get distributor shelf space for his networks, including asking the FCC for help.

Sohn's path to Senate confirmation would appear to be a rocky and uphill climb. For one thing, she must first be voted out of the Commerce Committee and will likely need every Democratic vote there is, which would include Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), who progressive Democrats hammered--including paying for a billboard in her home state branding her "corrupt"--during the net neutrality debate for not voting to repeal the FCC's decision in 2017 to eliminate the net neutrality rules that Sohn stumped for under Wheeler. 

According to a source, supporters of Sohn have reached out to Sinema to make it clear Sohn did not support the billboard tactic. ■

Democratic Federal Communications Commission nominee Gigi Sohn has gotten support from what would appear at first blush to be an unlikely ally, Charles Herring, president of conservative One America News Network.

Sohn was slammed by The Wall Street Journal in an editorial this week titled “A Media Censor for the FCC?” The question mark suggested the jury was still out, but the editorial appeared to be more of an exclamation point. It said her “strident partisanship” should disqualify her and that she “favors deploying the agency’s regulatory power to shackle broadband providers and silence conservative voices.”

As a top aide to FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, Sohn was a big advocate for the imposition of net neutrality rules and was no fan of Sinclair Broadcast Group for its perceived conservative bias (nor were many other Democrats).

In a statement on the OAN website, Herring painted a quite different portrait while conceding their politics were hardly on the same page.

“I’m fully aware of Gigi's personal views,” said Herring, which have raised red flags among Republican senators preparing to grill her at a confirmation hearing and vote on her nomination. ”[Y]et I‘m even more knowledgeable on her strong belief and advocacy for diversity in the programming lineup, especially in news, regardless of conflicts with her personal views.”

Herring for years has been fighting to get distributor shelf space for his networks, including asking the FCC for help.

Rather than being someone who wants to silence voices, Herring says she has advocated for “reasonable policies to support numerous points of view and to open up the markets to independent voices in all aspects of the media. She believes in the First Amendment and the advantages of a strong and open media for the benefit of democracy.”

He called on other programmers to “step up” and support Sohn.

Herring's One America News Network (OANN) and AWE (A Wealth of Entertainment), which have been authorized for distribution in Canada, have secured a master distribution agreement with the Canadian Communications Systems Alliance (CCSA), essentially Canada's version of the NCTC program buying cooperative in the U.S.

The CCSA agreement is basically a "hunting license" that allows Herring to try and sell its programming to the 100-plus video distributors in CCSA.

Herring Networks President Charles Herring tells Multichannel News that the agreement means CCSA will not only allow Herring to pitch its networks, but will work with it to encourage "consideration and deployment" by member distributors.

Herring says there are some restrictions to the affiliation agreements secured through CCSA, including that channels must be offered a la carte and there can be no minimum penetration or channel packaging and tying provisions in the agreements.

Herring says the company also retains OTT, digital and international rights to the networks, "giving us the flexibility to capitalize on emerging revenue sources and expand our services into Europe and other international markets.”

“Our sponsor, Ethnic Channels, was extremely helpful in guiding us through the CRTC process and educating us on the Canadian video market.”

Earlier in the year, OAN and AWE were authorized for distribution in Canada by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which in turn paved the way for the master agreement.

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When Al Jazeera America officially closes its doors April 12, it will leave a void among emerging cable news network voices that will be difficult to fill, industry observers said.

The three-year-old network, which this past February announced it would close down after unsuccessfully attempting to compete with cable’s upper echelon of news networks in Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC, will most likely not be replaced on most cable and satellite lineups with other emerging networks such as TheBlaze, Fusion, Newsmax TV or One America News Network, even as the 2016 political campaign heats up and drives news-network ratings.

ELECTION-YEAR RELEVANCE

Those emerging cable-news networks say the loss of Al Jazeera America does not signal a diminishing value for alternative voices beyond the big three cable news networks. Rather, it’s a realization that in a crowded, evolving pay TV marketplace, television news, like politics, is a di_ cult arena in which to rack up wins.

“There’s no doubt there’s an opportunity, and the live component of news in general preserves the linear platforms and makes them relevant,” said Charles Herring, president of Herring Networks, which owns conservative-leaning One America News. “MVPDs are always looking for live content, whether it’s news or sports, and a lot of the viewers tune to the linear offering to watch breaking news — that’s where the latest source of information is.”

Al Jazeera America, which debuted in 2013 after the Qatar-based Al Jazeera Media purchased the former Current TV network from former Vice President Al Gore and other investors for $500 million, will sign off with more than 60 million subscribers across numerous pay TV affiliates, including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Dish Network and Verizon Communications’s Fios TV.

Several potential suitors, including Herring, have looked at purchasing Al Jazeera America’s assets, as well as its affiliate agreements, but at press time no deals were thought to be imminent.

“We’ve taken a very good look at the opportunities around Al Jazeera closing,” Herring said, although he would not provide specifics.

With distributors looking to pare down channel lineups amid rising programming costs and a loss of subscribers turning to less-expensive streaming services, industry executives say its unlikely any cable network will replace Al Jazeera America on distributor lineups.

“What we have found is the distributors are not saying to themselves, ‘Oh, we lost Al Jazeera and we need to fill that hole,’” Newsmax Media CEO Christopher Ruddy said. “I think there’s a lot of anxiety on the operator side of the business where they are not looking for new channels, and Al Jazeera was pushed on them because of existing deals.”

Indeed, Comcast and another major distributor confirmed to Multichannel News that they don’t plan to fill Al Jazeera America’s channel slot with a new or existing programmer.

Al Jazeera America’s demise comes as the unpredictable and contentious 2016 presidential campaign is driving big ratings for cable news networks. Fox News has won the lion’s share of weekly cable primetime ratings races so far this year, and is primed to finish the first quarter as the most-watched cable network in primetime.

CNN and MSNBC are also posting significant viewership upticks in ratings during the first quarter of 2016.

While both Herring and Ruddy lamented the loss of Al Jazeera America’s voice in the cable news landscape, they both said that there remains a need for independent news outlets that provide viewers with alternative voices to the big cable news networks.

“I’m always disappointed when a news channel disappears because I believe there is strength in diversity,” said Ruddy. “The other channels are much more polarizing, and the public would like a more informational-based channel.”

Added Herring: “We’re having the most interesting election taking place right now, and I do not recall another election that was important, entertaining and thought provoking. … I haven’t come across a single individual that doesn’t have a strong opinion on the candidates. It’s an important part of our democracy to ensure that all this information gets out to the viewers so that they can make an informed decision regardless of where one might fall.”

In an effort to assure its voice is heard, Herring earlier this month filed suit against AT&T, saying the company is reneging on a promise to carry its One America News and AWE networks on DirecTV. In a statement AT&T claimed the lawsuit to be “baseless,” adding that it has offered to carry both channels on DirecTV at reasonable, market-based terms.”

Herring said the networks would only cost 6 cents per channel, per month, which equates to 72 cents per year. “Although DirecTV will always take the position that the rates being requested are out of line and not fair and not what the market demanded, it’s not a fact,” he said.

STILL REACHING OUT

Newsmax’s Ruddy said the network will continue to secure distribution deals with multichannel distributors despite the difficult marketplace. He said Newsmax isn’t banking on benefitting from Al Jazeera’s demise, and said the 46 million-subscriber network actually had greater reach than Al Jazeera America with several distributors, including DirecTV.

“We looked at Al Jazeera, and the problem is that there is not a lot of interest by Al Jazeera to transfer agreements, and there’s not a lot of interest among the operators to fill those holes with channels just for the sake of filling them,” he said. “Newsmax has never seen itself as having to depend on one network or another failing — we’ve always been competing with ourselves to build a better product and a bigger audience.”