RT America To Halt Production And Lay Off Most Staff After Being Dropped By Major U.S. Distributors
deadline.comRT America, the sister network to Russia’s state-sponsored RT, is ceasing production, after being dropped by DirecTV and Roku following the invasion of Ukraine.T&R Productions, the production entity, sent a note to employees announcing the shutdown.“Unfortunately, we anticipate this layoff will be permanent, meaning that this will result in the permanent separation from employment of most T&R employees at all locations,” Misha Solodovnikov, general manager, wrote in a memo.
He blamed the shutdown on “unforeseen business interruption events.”Holland Cooke, who hosted a show for RT America, wrote in Talkers that “I agreed to do a show this week, and had booked and was scripting on the topic of refugees, a snapshot of desperate Ukraine pilgrims’ plight.
But that show won’t air. In an all-hands meeting Thursday (3/3) at noon, management spared remaining RT-ers the dilemma. We’ve been canceled, by cable/satellite/online distribution platforms.” CNN first confirmed the shutdown and the employee memo.RT America had locations in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, New York and Miami.
In the memo, Solodovnikov wrote that employment would end around May 3.RT America’s production shutdown, just over a week after the invasion began, follows a cascading series of actions in which U.S.
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