Allen has had a big year. Entertainment Studios grew subscribers by more than 250 percent across its portfolio of seven HD cable nets to reach nearly 80 million U.S. households. Among milestones, in January, AT&T/DirecTV began carrying all seven networks. Additionally, Allen launched his sixth court series, “The Verdict With Judge Hatchet,” in both broadcast syndication and on the Justice Central network and is launching comedy game show “Funny You Should Ask” and comedy talker “Trending Funny.” Allen also recently sealed a deal for distributor Anchor Bay Entertainment for Blu-ray, DVD, EST and transactional PPV/VOD distribution rights in the U.S. to Entertainment Studios theatrical content. He thinks the industry has a long way to go on diversity, giving it an F-. “The reason why is because the networks are not owned by the people of the community. Cable operators are paying $70 billion a year to license content, and none of it goes to the people of the community,” he says.

What grade do you give the cable industry on diversity and why?
I give the industry an F- (F minus) on diversity.  The reason why is because the networks are not owned by the people of the community. Cable operators are paying $70 BILLION a year to license content, and none of it goes to the people of the community.

Examples:
— There isn’t anyone who is Asian-American who owns a cable network. Their voices are not heard at all.
— Hispanic networks are not owned by people who are Hispanic.
— The LGBT community has a network targeting them, but they do not own it.
— In the African-American community, African-Americans do not own the networks that target us. Diversity starts with     ownership, and we must have ownership so all of our voices are heard unfiltered and widely-distributed so we can truly participate in the American democracy—a diverse country.

The technology that will most benefit cable over the next year is…
It won’t be technology, it will always be better content.

My personal election campaign slogan would be..
Everybody in America gets a better quality and free education—all the way through college and graduate school.

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Wednesday–December 11

Cruz Addresses Foreign Cyber Threats After ‘Salt Typhoon’

After a U.S. official confirmed at least eight U.S. telecommunications providers were breached as part of a foreign hacking campaign, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) called for more focus on defending state-sponsored cyber threats.

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