T & R Productions, the company that handles operations for the Kremlin-funded network RT America, has laid off most of its staff and shuttered production of the network, according to a company-wide memo reviewed by The Daily Beast.
In an all-hands meeting on Thursday, general manager Misha Solodovnikov informed staffers that the company was “ceasing production” across all of the network’s locations due to “unforeseen business interruption events.” The layoffs were effective immediately.
Solodovnikov also said that the “layoff will be permanent” and will “result in the permanent separation from employment of most T&R employees” at the network. In effect, the mass layoffs have resulted in the end of RT America, which went dark this week. Throughout the day on Thursday, the channel has been streaming the Russia-based RT network's feed.
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Former RT America host Holland Cooke was the first to break the news in a column for Talkers Magazine. Cooke, a Talkers columnist, had been hosting a weekly show for the network titled The Big Picture for the Moscow-backed network since 2017. CNN also reported on the company memo on Thursday.
The effective shutdown of RT America comes amid an international crackdown on Russian President Vladimir Putin's state-backed propaganda outlets. (Though Rumble, the MAGA clone of YouTube, welcomed RT with open arms this week.)
With social media platforms, streamers, and TV providers banning RT from its platforms across the world, DirecTV—the largest satellite provider in the U.S. and RT America's largest carrier—announced this week that it had dropped the network from its lineup, dealing a fatal blow to the channel.
Even prior to the company-wide layoffs, RT and its American counterpart had struggled with mass defections over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with a number of staffers publicly announcing their resignations.
Additionally, some of the more recognizable hosts of RT America’s talk shows distanced themselves from the network. A source close to comedian Dennis Miller, host of the twice-weekly interview program Dennis Miller + One, said he “has no plans of going back” to his show if it aired on the network.
Ora TV, the company that produces Miller’s show, announced this week that it had halted all production of programs it licenses to RT America through T & R Productions—including the weekly general talk show hosted by Star Trek icon William Shatner.
