Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, CNBC and other media companies have been sued by BanxCorp, which owns bank rating website BanxQuote.com.
The antitrust suit alleges that the media companies have conspired to form a cartel and prop up one of BanxCorp’s competitors, Bankrate.com by fixing the prices banks pay to get their interest rates listed on the site. Specifically, BanxCorp is blaming the media companies for republishing that data, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
The companies have been added to a suit that BanxCorp filed May 14 against LendingTree.com.
The complaint filed by BanxCorp in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, accuses the firms of entering into a conspiracy in restraint of trade and forming a cartel with their competitor Bankrate.com together with approximately a hundred competing bank rate website operators including some of the largest media conglomerates in the United States.
BanxCorp is seeking damages in excess of $500 million, which it claims could be trebled under the antitrust statute.