Watch the Moment DirectTV Shut Down Russian State Network RT
Denis Balibouse/Getty Images.
Russia’s state-run English language propaganda network, RT, continues to lose access to Americans’ homes as the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine escalates.
AT&T’s DirecTV became the latest distributor on Tuesday to announce it will end its contract with RT.
“In line with our previous agreement with RT America, we are accelerating this year’s contract expiration timeline and will no longer offer their programming effective immediately,” said DirecTV in a statement.
DirecTV, one of two U.S. distributors for RT, cut off the network almost immediately on Tuesday, with its final moments being caught on tape and quickly making the rounds on social media.
Here were the final moments of RT (Russia Today) as @DirecTV removed it at 1:00 p.m. Eastern over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
RT ran a Medicare ad & five promos (including one that said RT doesn’t “skew the facts”) before a message read, “This channel is no longer available.” pic.twitter.com/QYGLBEZMJY
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 1, 2022
DISH, the other major television distributor, that carries RT has yet to say whether or not they plan to continue airing the network, saying it is “closely monitoring the situation.”
The satellite TV provider came under fire from former President Donald Trump and many in the MAGA world after it announced in January it would stop carrying the far-right One America News Network – which has been unwonted to criticize Putin.
RT has been dropped by other providers including Roku and has been banned from airing in the entirety of the European Union.
Facebook, TikTok, and Google have also all announced restrictions on RT’s content, which is pushing the Kremlin’s line that Ukraine is killing Russians and that there is no invasion of Ukraine.
RT is aired in other languages, including Spanish. As Foreign Policy noted, it has significant influence in Latin America:
Russia’s state-backed outlets more than doubled the output of the second-most prolific publisher of Spanish-language content on Ukraine, the Venezuelan opposition paper El Nacional, and U.S.-based outlets, led by Univision, CNN, and Telemundo, which published only 722 posts on the crisis.
