Comcast Says Appeal in Racial Discrimination Case 'Outlandish'
"A huge chasm" sits between the allegations Entertainment Studios Networks and the National Association of African American Owned Media (ESN/NAAAOM) brought in their original complaint and the description of that case in their appellate brief (see 1704170017), Comcast said in…
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an answering brief (in Pacer) filed Wednesday in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Calling the appellate brief "an outlandish conspiracy theory," Comcast said ESN/NAAAOM never tried to explain why the MVPD would carry networks largely owned by African-Americans while discriminating against solely African-American-owned networks like ESN, with that "contrived racial category only reinforc[ing] the implausibility of [ESN/NAAAOM] contentions." Comcast said the appeal, having largely abandoned the allegations of the original complaint, now focuses on "a single stray" remark that wasn't part of the operative complaint. And it said the First Amendment gives it editorial discretion to decide which networks to offer. Counsel for ESN/NAAAOM didn't comment Thursday. Charter Communications also has an appeal before the 9th Circuit of a lower court's 2016 rejection of its bid to have a similar ESN lawsuit against it thrown out (see 1610260069).