It's no longer just threats facing Russia's only independent TV station. Providers are now dropping the channel outright. Images mixed by Kevin Rothrock.

The prospect that Russian cable television providers might drop TV Rain, Russia’s only independent channel, became a reality today, when two major cable companies reported decisions to stop providing customers with access to the station.

In a tweet today, January 29, 2014, the telecom Akado (where the Board Director is Yuri Pripachkin—the man who launched yesterday’s crackdown on TV Rain) announced [ru] on Twitter that it is suspending TV Rain’s broadcasting license on its cable network, effective tomorrow. Another cable television provider, Dom.ru, has already cut off access to TV Rain on its network, citing [ru] the absence of a broadcasting agreement with the station. According to the cable provider, it is illegal in Russia to broadcast a channel without such an agreement. Curiously, Dom.ru’s press release says nothing about why it only now realized that it lacks a contract with TV Rain.

A third cable television provider, Tricolor TV, told [ru] Echo of Moscow’s St. Petersburg branch that will continue to carry TV Rain, but warned that it would drop the station, if it ever repeated the scandal (covered at length in a previous GV post) that sparked its current troubles.

According to reports and the telecoms’ own websites [ru], Akado and Dom.ru have somewhere between seven and nine million customers in Russia, serving upwards of 56 cities throughout the country.

Akado’s decision to announce on Twitter that it is suspending TV Rain coverage exposed the cable provider to a wave of anger from the station’s supporters.

Here are a few choice responses to Akado’s tweet:

@ru_akado @sult @tvrain позорище

— Feldman (@EvgenyFeldman) January 29, 2014

Dishonor.

@ru_akado @plushev @tvrain акадо-позорники. дайте возможность зрителю самому вибирать что ему смотреть

— Иван Пипаев (@IvanPipaev) January 29, 2014

Akado, this is shameful! Give viewers the chance to decide for themselves what to watch!

@ru_akado Мудаки вы электрические.

— Олег Козловский (@kozlovsky) January 29, 2014

Akado, you electrically operated scumbags.

@ru_akado @tvrain хуесосы.

— Митя Алешковский (@aleshru) January 29, 2014

C**ksuckers.

@ru_akado каково это писать твит с хуем во рту?

— Паша Никулин (@mrzff) January 29, 2014

What’s it like to write a tweet with a d**k in your mouth?

Хорошо, когда появляется возможность хоть какого-то противодействия. Отключаю у себя @ru_akado за отказ транслировать @tvrain и вам советую.

— Михаил Идов (@moscowidov) January 29, 2014

It’s good when the opportunity arises for some resistance. I’m switching away from Akado for its refusal to broadcast TV Rain, and I advise you to do the same.