Byron Allen’s Racial Bias Suits Headed To The Supreme Court

Comedian and media mogul Byron Allen wants TV viewers to watch the channels his company produces. But while many distributors carry Allen's channels, two cable giants have refused.

Allen says the reason is that he's black, and so he's sued for racial discrimination. An appeals court has let his lawsuits go forward, but now the Supreme Court will weigh in and could deliver a setback.

The Associated Press reports the justices will hear arguments Nov. 13 in a $20 billion lawsuit that Allen filed against Comcast, with the outcome also affecting a $10 billion case he has filed against Charter Communications.

If Allen prevails, black-owned businesses will have an easier time winning suits that allege discrimination in contracting. If Comcast wins, the bar will be high to bring and succeed with similar suits.

The question for the justices is whether Allen needs to show that race was just a factor in Comcast's decision not to offer him a contract or whether it was the sole factor.

Justice Central is one of Byron Allen's cable channels, he also owns The Weather Channel

Allen said his case is about getting rid of institutionalized racism. Pursuing that claim, he said, "is one of the greatest things I've ever done in my life" and "one of the things I'm most proud of."

Comcast and Charter deny that race played any part in their business decisions not to distribute Allen’s cable networks over the last decade, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.  They say they based their decisions on limited channel capacity on their systems, cost, popularity and ratings of Allen’s networks, and the cable giants’ First Amendment right to decide what they want their customers to watch.

“We currently carry more than 100 networks geared toward diverse audiences, including multiple networks owned or controlled by minorities. In 2018, we offered more than 18,000 hours of programming geared toward diverse audiences On Demand and Online,” Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said in April.

Charter said in a statement that the lawsuit against it “is a desperate tactic and the allegations in it are entirely false. Race plays no role whatsoever in our programming decisions.”