Roku Joins DirecTV In Removing RT America In Wake Of Russian Invasion Of Ukraine — Update

UPDATE, 5:08 PM PT: Roku is removing RT from all of its channel stores, including those in the United States, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A Roku spokesperson confirmed the decision on Tuesday.

The announcement follows DirecTV’s decision to drop RT America, which is the sister network of Russia Today.

Roku had previously announced that it was removing RT from its European channel stores.

PREVIOUSLY: DirecTV has dropped RT America, the sister network to Russia Today, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The satellite service was one of the largest U.S. distributors of RT, along with Dish Network and Roku.

“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 spokesperson for DirecTV said.

DirecTV already had been reviewing the value of RT America as part of a review of contracts up for expiration this year. RT America’s contract was up mid-year, but DirecTV moved up the timeline given the recent events in Ukraine, the spokesperson said.

Roku announced on Monday that it was removing RT from its Roku offerings in Europe, where the EU has sanctioned Russia state-backed media outlets.

In the U.S., the National Association of Broadcasters called on stations to stop carrying Russian state-sponsored programming, while a number of major studios have paused their movie release plans in the country.

Among the offerings on RT America was a show featuring comedian Dennis Miller, Dennis Miller+ One and another featuring William Shatner, I Don’t Understand with William Shatner. The company that produces the shows said on Tuesday that it would suspend production of shows for the outlet via T&R Productions, tasked with operations for RT in the U.S.

John Dickey, the CEO of Ora Media, said in a statement, “Given the invasion of Ukraine and the tragic humanitarian crisis, Ora Media has paused production of content we license to T&R Productions. Future business decisions will be made based on the evolving situation.”