So I went to do my usual cruise past the stations and wanted to watch RT. It is part of my standard news rotation. Why? Simply because they like to talk dirt that the USA and EU don’t want talked about. Just like I watch Al Jazeera to see the dirt the Arabs / Muslims have on those they don’t like, or watch PBS to see what dirt they have on conservatives and republicans, or BBC to see what they don’t like about the EU and / or Russia. EVERYONE loves to toss dirt at The Other, and between them all you can get a decent idea who’s spinning what crap and what really happened.
So I clicked on the RT channel. A picture of a gear pops up and: “Sorry, This channel is no longer in service” says the app. What The? mutters me…
OK, for the first few hours I just went back to the Satellite Dish. I still have almost a year to completely leave it, and for now it’s just depricating… but still, it’s a bother. First off, it’s low def and second they chop off both sides of the picture. A bit of a pain with news where the text matters. Then it is also only on at odd times on a local UHF channel (picked up by DirecTV in my local channels package) and the guide usually says it is something that it isn’t so it’s a bit of “go fish”. But it got me through the morning…
Then this afternoon, I was back at WT??? So thought I’d ask the web.
https://www.rokuchannels.tv/rt/
It’s listed, but down in discussion we find folks complaining that it’s gone POOF! all over the world. BUT, that it is also carried under the Pluto channel. OK, I’ve got that installed (though I’d not watched it much as is nags you to sign up, but doesn’t force it). Searching down a bit, there was RT, along with some other channels I would like. OK, as in all things internet, interruptions in data flow are just at best speed limits with an intelligence test and folks just flow around them… So now I’m watching Pluto and deciding if I want whatever you get extra for signing up…
And now I’ve got RT back, though via yet more clicking…
steven
May 5, 2017 at 12:01 PMwatch on pluto
Chromecast
May 5, 2017 at 12:31 PMI agree with you.
Right now I’m chromecasting RT from my Android tablet to my kitchen TV.
What would be a good alternative to Roku?
I don’t think that Amazon Fire TV has RT on the channel lineup.
steven
May 5, 2017 at 12:38 PMRt is on the Pluto channel on ROKU
Sigh.
It is also on YouTube and the link up above under TV still gets you there… so I can just fire up the Chromebox that’s hooked to my TV and get it that way, too. (Hey, only 3 out of 4 of my sources working ;-)
https://www.youtube.com/user/RussiaToday
Like others, I hope it isn’t something political or any attempt at PC Censorship. Perhaps just some Democrat or French hacker group being petty and pissed at the Russians for being better? Whatever.
Musings from the Chiefio 
Why I like watching RT:
They just ran a story ( I’m watching the Pluto channel feed of RT – sometimes the different feeds run on different clocks…) about the UK moving to “ban encryption”…
Seems legislation is being put together to ban things like Whatsapp and require back doors in applications and force product providers to make a backdoor in codes for them.
Sigh. The stupid, it burns….
First off, anyone can make their own encryption using only trivially more inconvenient methods (i.e download and install public domain software).
Second, you can have security, or not. There is no 1/2 pregnant. So put a hole in it, that hole WILL be found and WILL be used… by your enemies.
Third, the Jihadis already have their own I.T. department with their own software. You will drive the least aware and least connected Jihadi Wanabees right into their arms. This makes things much worse.
Fourth, abuse of your citizens does NOT make them love you. It generates resentment. I’m already looking at this and thinking: “OK, UK is on the list of National Abusers. Assume they are out to get you and do NOT trust them.” That likely isn’t what you want.
I’ve not heard a peep about this on US news (yet?)…
Odd… looking into video sources I was reminded of KODI (seems preintalled is now illegal in some cases and places). Tried installing on my tablet only to find it isn’t compatible (likely an Android release level thing). BUT along the way ran into the Pluto TV app for Android.
So now via Pluto I have a bunch of other stations. It is like a mini cable TV provider, so now among others, I hsve CNBC, a weather channel, the NASA Live channel, Bloomberg, RT, Sky News, Newsy, NewsMax, and a whole lot more live on the tablet. Golly. Happy camper.
https://www.gadgetreviews.io/kodi-tv-boxes-ruled-illegal-users-safe-controversial-law/
The thing that got me looking at this stuff:
Don’t know exactly what to make of this. The software is legal. The boxes are legal. Putting them together is legal. Selling me one with it installed is illegal? WT?
There’s always steganography.
PGP it using a tweaked algorithm and then encode it in a pretty picture of your choice.
That should pretty much fox any “intelligence” service that’s snooping.
There was a neat trick attributed to a certain Doctor John Dee, English alchemist, astrologer, mathematician and Court necromancer to Elizabeth I, one of the most brilliant sages of the 16th century.
His journals resisted decryption for over four centuries until the advent of powerful computers because the first few pages were encrypted gibberish, so everyone gave up attempting to unscramble it because even if they achieved the correct decryption, it still looked like rubbish, and as it was a running cypher – you had to get it right from the beginning or else it couldn’t be done.
Surprise: there is a new RT link on Roku, better than the previous (but without the Spanish and Arabian versions). It has the International, Us and UK feeds, as well as access to old shows. It did place a new icon on my screen. The old icon is still there, although it doesn’t work, and I don’t know how to get rid of it.
John Cerve