B+C Hall of Fame 2024: Janice Arouh

Janice Arouh
(Image credit: Allen Media Group)

Most young girls who grew up watching Bewitched wanted to be like Samantha, a cheeky witch navigating life as a 1960s housewife. 

Not Janice Arouh. Her attention was fixed on Samantha’s husband, an account executive at an ad agency. “All I wanted to do was be like Darrin,” she said. “I wanted to be an advertising executive and work at an agency.” 

After moving to L.A. to pursue agency life and working on accounts including McDonald’s and PepsiCo, a friend piqued her interest in the burgeoning cable business. It was a realm she knew little about, but Arouh perhaps more than anything loves a challenge. When she interviewed at Showtime Networks, she was initially told she wasn’t the right fit because she had no cable or sales experience.  

“This is my fuel,” Arouh said. “When someone says no, I say yes. My [career] inflection points have all had a lot to do with pivoting and change. This wasn’t the path I imagined, but it was a wonderful surprise. I never looked back and, 30-plus years later, here I am.” 

Pivot to Cable

She ended up getting the Showtime position. “She was in the advertising world, but she came with excellent brand and promotional experience and terrific in-cable recommendations,” Dotty Ewing, Showtime’s regional director of affiliate sales and marketing at the time, said. “It was our kismet, then, that I had the opportunity to hire such a bright young woman.”

Arouh’s next move was driving local ad sales at then-fledgling Fox Cable Networks, where she was part of the launch of FX in 1994. Her subsequent stop was Hallmark Channel, where as distribution chief she helped grow the franchise with the launch of a dedicated movie network.

In 2010, she got a call from a mutual friend about Byron Allen and his new company, then called Entertainment Studios. The entertainer-turned-entrepreneur had just launched six networks on Verizon Fios TV and was looking for an executive to helm the distribution strategy. Arouh jumped.

My [career] inflection points have all had a lot to do with pivoting and change. This wasn’t the path I imagined but it was a wonderful surprise.”

Janice Arouh

“At the time we had nearly zero subscribers and today we have 270 million,” she said. “I can’t begin to express how many times we faced what I thought at the time were insurmountable challenges. But strategically we worked through them.” 

Arouh forged new distribution avenues across the telco, satellite and cable arenas, and has been a principal player in Allen Media’s acquisitions, including The Weather Channel, theGrio and HBCU GO. “It’s wild that we have grown as quickly as we have,” she said. “Even though my primary responsibility is the distribution strategy on linear and digital platforms, having the opportunity to be with Byron, side by side, raising funds to acquire new assets, participating in the process, has been eye-awakening.”

“Excellent,” “gracious” and “fair” are the words Allen uses to describe Arouh. “Janice is extremely focused on increasing top-line revenue and keeping costs down,” he said. “Her leadership through the years has proven to be thoughtful and strategic.”

Arouh also credits her strong foundation at home with propelling her professional growth. “My husband has been my constant and raised our children together with me while I was traveling all over like a maniac,” she said. 

Relationship Builder

Arouh is a consummate relationship-builder with both co-workers and clients. “Even though we have tough negotiations, we have a camaraderie,” she said. “I’ve established long-term trusting relationships, and by having trusting relationships you’re able to navigate very difficult negotiations.”

Tom Montemagno, executive VP of programming acquisition at Charter Communications, concurred. “I’ve been across the table from Janice many times over the last 25-plus years, and as hard as each situation might have been, I always could count on Janice to be the ultimate professional who has a customer-first approach and looks to find solutions workable for both sides while avoiding unnecessary drama,” he said. 

What’s top of mind for Arouh right now? “Accelerating our growth … not only on the traditional side but to extend our brands and create new brands for the evolving digital marketplace,” she said. 

She is excited about what may be next for Allen Media Group, and for her. “I don’t necessarily know what the future will bring, but I do believe there are endless possibilities and opportunities,” Arouh said. “We’re never bored!” 

Cathy Applefeld Olson

Cathy Applefeld Olson is a seasoned entertainment, media and culture journalist, and producer of video content and events. Through her continuing coverage in publications including Forbes, Billboard, XLive, Cynopsis, Broadcasting+Cable and Multichannel News, Cathy reports on evolving industry trends and personalities in business, branding, talent and technology. A passionate believer in the power of culture influencers to elevate well-being, Cathy recently launched the Forbes column Hollywood & Mind, which features interviews with entertainers, sports figures, executives and others who are boosting the conversation around mental health. She also works with music and wellness community Myndstream, for which she writes the monthly State of Mynd blog.