DirecTV Drops Russia’s RT America — Months After Refusal to Renew OAN

DirecTV dropped Russian propaganda outlet RT America on Tuesday as a belated response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. DirecTV absurdly refused to renew One America News Network earlier this year while RT’s programming was only suspended after Russia invaded Ukraine.

DirecTV, America’s largest satellite provider, dropped programming from Russia state-affiliated RT America as pressure mounts on companies to react to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. RT is Russian state-run propaganda with a massive social media presence, including a verified YouTube channel that was the “most watched news network on YouTube” with over 10 billion views, according to RT.

Newsmax reports that DirecTV has dropped RT America while the satellite provider refused to renew its contract for One America News Network (OAN). OAN’s contract will end this year. DirecTV deemed OAN less trustworthy and more controversial than Russian propaganda.

“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,” a DirecTV spokesman reportedly told Reuters. AT&T owns about 70 percent of DirecTV, Reuters wrote. The DirecTV spokesman claimed that DirecTV had already been reviewing programmers with upcoming expiring contracts and had been “re-assessing the value RT America brings to its broader customer base,” Reuters summarized. The spokesman reportedly asserted that dropping RT America was a necessary response to Russia’s attacks on Ukraine.

The question the network didn’t answer is, why would DirecTV wait to drop RT America’s programming until days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while the satellite provider had already dropped OAN?

NewsBusters detected RT in at least five lies or propaganda spins in the Russian outlet’s reporting on the invasion of Ukraine.

Multiple social media sites announced a variety of actions Tuesday morning against Russia state-affiliated accounts. YouTube has announced that it will ban channels linking to Sputnik, RT in Europe and Twitter will flag content that contains Russian state media connections, according to Reuters. Microsoft, TikTok and Facebook “are cracking down” on certain Russian state media in Europe, National Public Radio reported. According to Reuters streaming platform Roku Inc. is also going to remove RT in Europe from its Roku Channel Store. Apple, along with other measures, will take out the RT, and Sputnik applications from its App Store in Russia. according to BuzzFeed’s tech and business editor John Paczkowski.

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