Lawsuits alleging Civil Rights Act violations by Comcast and Charter will head to trial following a failed attempt by the cable operators to get the suits dismissed.
Bryon Allen’s Entertainment Studios and the National Association of African-American Owned Media (NAAAOM) filed a $20 billion lawsuit against Comcast and a $10 billion lawsuit against Charter, claiming the two companies refused for years to carry Entertainment Studios’ networks and engaged in racial discrimination during contracting.
A federal appeals rejected Comcast and Charter’s attempts to dismiss the case, and now both cases can proceed to court for discovery and trial phases.
“These two decisions against Comcast and Charter are very significant, unprecedented, and historic,” said Byron Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Entertainment Studios, in a statement. “The lack of true economic inclusion for African Americans will end with me.”
In response to the court’s decision Charter put out the following statement:
“This lawsuit is a desperate tactic that this programmer has used before with other distributors. We are disappointed with today’s decision and will vigorously defend against these claims.”
Comcast did not immediately respond to request for comment.
“These decisions are hugely important in terms of opening the courts to African American-owned media. The Court paved the way to our eventual success at trial by ensuring that the proper ‘mixed motive’ standard for our claims – a lower standard of proof than the ‘but for’ standard argued by Comcast and Charter – applies,” said Entertainment Studios’ attorney, Skip Miller, partner in Miller Barondess, in a statement. “Additionally, the Court dismissed Charter’s and Comcast’s attempts to use the First Amendment as a shield for their alleged discrimination. I very much look forward to trying these cases.”
The legal action comes shortly after Comcast announced it will launch two new African American majority owned independent networks, AFRO and CLEO TV, on its Xfinity TV platform starting in January.
“The offerings from both AFRO and CLEO TV serve as an excellent complement to the growing catalog of programming choices we offer about global black communities,” said Keesha Boyd, executive director of Multicultural Products at Comcast Cable, in a statement. “We remain committed to delivering a wide array of programming by partnering with independent networks, such as the two we’re announcing today, to better serve our increasingly diverse customer base.”