'They can't attract viewers': Fox News whacks rival network as lawsuit faceplants

Fox News took a victory lap Friday following the quick dismissal of a lawsuit against it by one of its biggest rivals in the right-wing cable news space.

However, the matter might not be settled just yet.

Earlier this month, Newsmax filed a lawsuit in Florida, accusing Fox News of employing various anticompetitive practices to strong-arm television providers into keeping itself in basic cable packages, and Newsmax was either relegated to premium bundles or excluded from offerings altogether.

The case was assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon, a controversial right-wing legal figure who is best known for presiding over and dismissing federal charges against President Donald Trump for storing boxes of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

In her decision dismissing the case, reported NBC News, Cannon ruled that the case was improperly filed because four of the counts “incorporate all preceding allegations.” She gave until next Thursday for Newsmax to refile the case, in a way that “must not contain any successive counts that incorporate all prior allegations.”

Newsmax, for its part, has called the loss a "technical" matter and vowed to refile. Despite this, Fox has already claimed victory over their competitor.

"Newsmax cannot sue their way out of their own competitive failures in the marketplace to chase headlines simply because they can't attract viewers," said Fox News' PR division in a statement issued on Friday.