Changing Views

Image-busting is the best way for multicultural programs to break into the cable business, panelists said at NAMIC’s 1st East Coast Creative Summit. "That’s why I’m in the game," Black Family Channel production CEO Robert Townsend said. With shows like "Spoken," "The $1,000 Bee," and "Playhouse 22," BFC offers different sides of African-American culture. "If we don’t create alternative images, people will keep seeing African-Americans in the media as pimps and gangsters, and that’s all they’ll see," he added. TV One busts images with lifestyle shows, as scripted fare is 2-3 years away, svp Susan Banks said. Comcast-owned AZN TV is developing an original drama about/for/by Asian Americans that should bash stereotypes, AZN svp Peilin Chou says. — Simon Applebaum