EthnicMajority

(The Root) The near-whiteout at the 2011 Emmy Awards drew criticism from The Root and other sources. But the problem for this show, or for its sibling, the Oscars, is about who the directors are. Producers hire directors, and the directors decide who and what goes on the screen. But Hollywood's overwhelmingly white male producers rarely hire blacks, Latinos, Asians or women of any background as directors. 

A new Directors Guild of America report shows how woeful the record is, but it's the same news — just a different day. The report analyzed more than 2,600 episodes produced in the 2010-2011 television season for more than 170 scripted television series shown on broadcast TV, basic cable and premium cable. The shows were produced by production companies including ABC, CBS, Fox, HBO, NBC, Sony and Warner Bros.

White males directed 77 percent of the shows, and white females directed 11 percent of the episodes. Minority males directed 11 percent, and minority females directed 1 percent. The racial and gender near-shutout was more striking for one-hour series, in which white males directed 80 percent of episodes.

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(Multichannel.com) Comcast's international-content director assured a panel of Hispanic programmers that the top cable operator will bring in new Spanish-language channels, though those channels are not likely to break into the broadest digital tiers.

"Some difficult decisions will be made on the programming slate," Homer Gonzalez III said during a distribution-focused discussion in which he was the only distributor represented.

Responding to a comment by Imagina U.S.'s programming & distribution VP Antonio Briceno that some networks that initially helped populate Hispanic tiers several years ago were still on those tiers, leaving no room for newcomers "new channels and new ideas," Gonzalez said over the last several months he has been studying hundreds of pages of ratings data, independent focus-group reports and other information about Spanish-language channels.

"What I can assure you of is that Comcast's Hispanic programming slate will not be static," Gonzalez said. "Right now I have 60 channels. Hopefully I can put more out there. But in the absence of more bandwidth being out there I have to optimize and keep my package relevant … You should anticipate changes in the Hispanic programming slate to bring more value to those Hispanic subscribers that we try to service."

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(AdWeek) After ceding his 11 p.m. time slot to Conan O’Brien, comedian George Lopez is facing a far more significant indignity: cancelation. TBS on Wednesday confirmed that it has pulled the plug on Lopez Tonight, effective, well, immediately. Thursday’s episode will be the last.

In a statement issued by the network, a spokesperson characterized the decision to kill Lopez’ show as “difficult.” After announcing that a third season of Lopez Tonight is not in the cards, TBS went on to praise the comic. “We are proud to have partnered with George Lopez, who is an immensely talented comedian and entertainer.”

TBS’ first foray into late-night talk, Lopez Tonight bowed in the 11 p.m. slot on November 9, 2009. His first guests were Kobe Bryant, Eva Longoria and Carlos Santana. The show held its own in the hour, but when Conan O’Brien signed on to produce and host TBS’ late-night tentpole in April 2010, Lopez agreed to take one for the team and move his show to the witching hour.

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(Home Media Magazine) Comcast Corp. is expanding the carriage of eight Latino networks.

When Comcast acquired NBC Universal, one of the commitments made was to expand the distribution of at least three networks that are owned or controlled by Latinos or target the Latino community by at least 10 million digital basic subscribers. Comcast will surpass that goal by 40% by adding about 14 million subscribers to eight Latino networks.

The eight networks that have expanded carriage on Comcast systems are Azteca America, Galavision, HITN, LATV, mun2, Telefutura, Telemundo and Univision.

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(LA Times) During Monday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on Comcast’s proposed takeover of NBC Universal, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) lamented the lack of TV shows aimed at minority viewers in general and black viewers in particular.

“We don’t have any more of that,” Waters said, adding, “I really liked `Girlfriends.’” She was referring to the sitcom about four African American women that ran on the now-defunct UPN network for six years.

GIRLFRIENDS Waters is right. While the casts of most dramas and many sitcoms have grown more diverse over the last decade (this fall, for example, the dual stars of NBC’s most anticipated drama, “Undercovers,” are African American), programs aimed at minority viewers are harder to find on both broadcast and cable television.

Veteran Producer Suzanne de Passe, a former president of Motown Television, offered up her thoughts on the disparity. Noting that it was not that long ago that the broadcast networks had such shows as “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” “The Cosby Show” and “Living Single,” she laid the blame on media consolidation.

“I have witnessed what consolidation of content and distribution in entertainment and media has done to significantly slow down and diminish opportunity for minority professionals rather than accelerate and increase it,” she said. The networks that used to make shows aimed at blacks “now only offer a minority cast member here and there and a long list of contributions to minority charities under the catch-all word, `diversity,’ ” she testified.

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