50 Cent Slams AT&T in Starz Dispute

By R. Thomas Umstead
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is throwing his two cents into the ongoing carriage-renewal talks between AT&T U-verse and Starz.

In social-media posts over the past weekend, Jackson labeled AT&T “racist” for potentially dropping Starz, which carries the drama series Power, which Jackson stars in and executive produces and draws mostly African-American viewers.

“AT&T @UVerse may drop @STARZ_Channel take away #PowerTV and the urban shows. Tweet it can’t go down. #IWantMyStarz,” Jackson tweeted Saturday night. On Instragram, he said, “Man I’m sorry I have say this, but AT&T is racist they have had issues in the past and here we go again. 500,000 homes will not be able to view the next episode of POWER." In another post he urged: "change your cable package from AT&T to anything else," saying "they are dropping all channels that are considered urban friendly."

For the full story go to Multichannel.com.

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.