A statement from MOTV confirmed on Friday that 70-year-old Mr Kroenke has asked the TV channel’s owners, Outdoor Sportsman Group – an asset of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment – to “remove all content related to those animals in light of public interest”.

The statement read: “Outdoor Sportsman Group is dedicated to serving audiences around the world interested in the outdoors. In the past few days, there has been significant public attention to a small portion of programming on our MyOutdoorTV app that contains content associated with hunting certain big game animals.

A short timeline of elephant poaching Show all 10 1 /10 A short timeline of elephant poaching A short timeline of elephant poaching 1880s.jpg An estimated 26 million elephants roam the African continent when the first Europeans began building forts on Africa’s uninhabited islands. Robert H. Milligan, New York Public Library A short timeline of elephant poaching 1910.jpg At the turn of the century, European empires stretch across Africa. The elephant population halves within a century to around ten million. Ivory is in vogue in Europe and America. Combs, piano keys, pool table balls and ornaments fashioned from elephant tusks are in high demand. Creative commons A short timeline of elephant poaching 1979.jpg In the 20th century, elephant populations dwindle to 1.3 million because of growing demand from the West. Surreal Name Given, Flickr A short timeline of elephant poaching 1980s.jpg Throughout the 1980s, 250 elephants are killed every day. By the end of the decade, only 600,000 elephants remain in Africa. Kenya’s population drops 89% from 167,000 to a mere 19,000. The species is on the verge of extinction in many parts of Africa. Scotch Macaskill A short timeline of elephant poaching actual elephant forensic 1989.jpg CITES bans all commercial ivory trade; the ban comes into force in 1990. Kenya destroys its entire ivory stockpile in a gesture against the ivory trade. Space for Giants A short timeline of elephant poaching 1990s.jpg After the ban, elephant populations began to recover. Within the next ten years, Kenya’s population rises from 55,000 to over 125,000. The Kenyan population also grows to more than 30,000 by 2007 from the historic low of 16,000. Space for Giants A short timeline of elephant poaching 1999.jpg Under mounting pressure from African leaders, Cites allows a ‘one-off’ sale of stockpiled ivory. Japan buys 55 tons of ivory from Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zimbabwe for £3 million. Vidhi Doshi A short timeline of elephant poaching `Ivory elephants 2008.jpeg Cites grants Japan and China permission to import elephant ivory from government stockpiles; 102 tonnes of stockpiled ivory from Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe were sold to Japan and China for £9.3 million. Space for Giants A short timeline of elephant poaching elephantfence 2009.jpg There is a huge spike in the number of large ivory seizures, with 14 seizures totalling 23,235 tons. Space for Giants A short timeline of elephant poaching Elephant dust 2013(1).jpeg Approximately 450,000 elephants remain in Africa. There have been 18 large-scale seizures of illegal ivory, 41,674 kg in total, the highest annual since records began. It is highly likely just a small fraction of the illegal ivory through the system is actually detected. Space for Giants

“While many on both sides of this issue have made their voices heard, and this content is only available through paid subscriptions, Stan Kroenke has directed us to remove all content related to those animals in light of the public interest."

MOTV is an American TV channel and launched in the United Kingdom last weekend at the Game Fair in Hertfordshire as an online app, with supporters describing it as “the Netflix of the hunting world”. Programmes showed a number of big game animals, including elephants and lions, being hunted and killed, with some being left to bleed to death while the hunters stalked them.

After a fierce backlash in the UK, particularly from Arsenal supporters given Mr Kroenke’s majority shareholding of the Premier League club, a decision has been taken by the sports tycoon to remove all coverage of those animals being hunted. The channel will continue to broadcast other shows that include fishing, cooking and hunting shows, albeit they will not include any footage of bloodsports.

Outdoor Sportsman Group also moved to appease any shareholders that will be unhappy with the decision to bow to public pressure, and outlined three facts that included it’s non-affiliation with Arsenal and their sponsors, as well as explain why Mr Kroenke came to the decision.

“First, Outdoor Sportsman Group properties operate independently from unrelated companies that our parent owns – as do all of the parent’s other business and sports interests,” the statement continued.

Stan Kroenke asked My Outdoor TV to remove all big game hunting shows (Getty)

“Arsenal Football Club has nothing to do with any of our media outlets. It has nothing to do with our content or the editorial decisions we make. We deserve no credit when an Arsenal striker scores a goal. Arsenal deserves no criticism when we offer a program with which some disagree.

“Second, we have made our content decisions independently of our parent company. Our parent had no input into these past decisions, and they have none now. All those who value the freedom of media outlets to set their own editorial courses should both recognize and respect this. We are grateful that our parent gives us this freedom.

“Even so, in this one instance, Mr. Kroenke directed us to make the changes explained above. He has a decades-long track record of environmental stewardship, working with conservationists, hydrologists, microbiologists, and others to responsibly manage habitat and enhance wildlife preservation. We also take conservation seriously, and dedicate programming to this issue and to anti-poaching efforts specifically.

“Third, hunting and fishing enthusiasts turn to our programming because we serve their interests. They turn to our programming because we depict legal, fair-chase practices. We recognize our content is not for everyone, and we respect those alternative viewpoints.”