Byron Allen’s lawsuits against Comcast, Charter Communications, DirecTV, and McDonald’s are a decade-long series of racial discrimination cases his company brought under Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. They produced a unanimous 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reshaped the standard of proof for civil rights plaintiffs, and each case eventually settled with carriage or advertising deals for Allen’s networks.
The Comcast Case and Supreme Court Ruling
In 2015, Allen’s Entertainment Studios Networks filed a $20 billion lawsuit against Comcast Corporation, alleging the cable operator refused to carry his channels because of his race. The complaint said Comcast systematically disfavored Black-owned media while carrying lesser-known white-owned channels, and quoted a Comcast executive as remarking, “We’re not trying to create any more Bob Johnsons,” a reference to the founder of BET.1Los Angeles Times. Byron Allen, Comcast Settle Racism Lawsuit
The case turned into a fight over how much a plaintiff has to prove. The Ninth Circuit had allowed the suit to proceed on a showing that race played “some role” in Comcast’s decision. Comcast argued the statute demanded a stricter test.2Oyez. Comcast Corp. v. National Association of African American-Owned Media
On March 23, 2020, the Supreme Court sided unanimously with Comcast on the legal standard. Writing for the Court, Justice Neil Gorsuch held that plaintiffs bringing Section 1981 claims must show “but-for” causation, meaning race was not merely a factor but the decisive reason the plaintiff lost a legally protected right. The Court rejected the looser “motivating factor” test that applies in Title VII employment cases, reasoning that Section 1981 follows the default rules of tort law.3Supreme Court of the United States. Comcast Corp. v. National Association of African American-Owned Media, No. 18-1171 Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg concurred in the judgment but wrote separately to note that but-for cause does not mean sole cause, and that the Court had not resolved whether Section 1981 covers the whole contracting process or only the final decision.2Oyez. Comcast Corp. v. National Association of African American-Owned Media
Legal analysts read the decision as raising the bar for Section 1981 claims and making early dismissal easier when plaintiffs cannot plausibly allege that racial bias was the determinative reason for their injury. The Court’s later ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County clarified that but-for cause does not require race to be the only cause, only that the outcome would have been different without it.4American Bar Association. Comcast, Bostock Offer Clarity on Causation Standard
The Comcast Settlement
Three months after the Supreme Court ruling, in June 2020, Allen and Comcast settled. Comcast agreed to carry three of Allen’s cable channels, Comedy.TV, Recipe.TV, and JusticeCentral.TV, on its Xfinity X1 platform, with video-on-demand and streaming rights included. The deal also extended existing carriage terms for The Weather Channel and covered retransmission rights for 14 local broadcast stations Allen had acquired. Comcast agreed as well to launch Allen’s Local Now app and the WeLoveWeather.TV website on its platforms.5Comcast Corporation. Entertainment Studios Networks and Comcast Content Carriage Arrangement Financial terms were not disclosed, and Allen withdrew the lawsuit as part of the agreement.6Variety. Byron Allen, Comcast Reach Deal to Settle Racial Discrimination Lawsuit
The Charter Communications Case
Allen filed a parallel $10 billion racial discrimination suit against Charter Communications in 2015, also under the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The complaint accused Charter of using the First Amendment as justification for excluding minority-owned media from its Spectrum cable system. After moving through the same appellate landscape reshaped by the Supreme Court’s but-for ruling, the case settled in February 2021. A joint statement said the lawsuit had been “resolved and withdrawn.” Terms were confidential.7Deadline. Byron Allen Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Against Charter Communications Settled
The DirecTV Case
The earliest of the four suits came in December 2014, when Allen sued AT&T’s DirecTV in Los Angeles. He alleged that years of negotiations had failed to produce a carriage deal and that AT&T had no distribution agreements with fully Black-owned media companies. The case was resolved with Allen securing distribution deals for seven cable channels across AT&T’s U-Verse and DirecTV platforms.8Ebony. Byron Allen Scores a Win in AT&T Discrimination Suit
The McDonald’s Advertising Case
In 2021, Allen shifted the theory from cable distribution to advertising dollars. Entertainment Studios Networks and Weather Group filed a $10 billion racial discrimination lawsuit against McDonald’s in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, assigned to Judge Fernando M. Olguin.9PR Newswire. Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group Wins Legal Victory in Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Against McDonald’s
The complaint alleged McDonald’s ran a two-tiered advertising system that marginalized Black-owned outlets. Ad purchases for outlets targeting Black viewers were funneled through a restricted “African American tier” with a far smaller budget than the “general tier” used for larger networks. Out of a $1.6 billion annual U.S. advertising budget, the suit said, Black-owned outlets received only about $5 million. Allen’s company had submitted a proposal for $30 million in ad spending and been offered only a fraction of that amount.10Chicago Crusader. McDonald’s Settles With Byron Allen After His $10B Lawsuit The suit further claimed Allen’s networks had tried to secure advertising through McDonald’s agency, OMD Worldwide, since 2009 but had been “blocked,” and that McDonald’s had mischaracterized his networks as programming solely for African American audiences when they reached more than 180 million cumulative subscribers.11Franchise Times. McDonald’s Settles With Black-Owned Media Group Ahead of Set Trial Date
On June 13, 2025, about a month before a trial set for July 2025, the parties settled. Financial terms were not disclosed, and McDonald’s made no admission of wrongdoing. Allen confirmed that McDonald’s had agreed to advertise across his platforms at “market rates.”12Yahoo Finance. McDonald’s Settles $10B Lawsuit An Entertainment Studios representative acknowledged “McDonald’s commitment to investing in Black-owned media properties,” and a McDonald’s spokesperson reaffirmed the company’s “unwavering commitment to inclusion.”11Franchise Times. McDonald’s Settles With Black-Owned Media Group Ahead of Set Trial Date
What the Cases Left Behind
Every one of Allen’s four major lawsuits ended in settlement, and each one delivered a business result his company had been seeking through negotiation: cable carriage from Comcast, Charter, and DirecTV, and advertising commitments from McDonald’s. None of the defendants admitted wrongdoing.
The legal legacy sits with the Comcast case. The Supreme Court’s decision in Comcast Corp. v. National Association of African American-Owned Media now governs every Section 1981 discrimination claim in federal court. A plaintiff alleging that a company refused to contract with them because of race must plead and prove that race was the but-for reason for the decision, not merely a contributing factor. Read alongside Bostock, that means showing the outcome would have been different without racial bias, though race need not be the sole cause.4American Bar Association. Comcast, Bostock Offer Clarity on Causation Standard