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.
