AT&T, DirecTV Sued for $10 Billion for Racial Discrimination

The National Association of African-American Owned Media, representing an anonymous African-American-owned programmer, sued AT&T and DirecTV for $10 billion alleging racial discrimination in program carriage and contracting decisions. The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. “In cahoots with the FCC and non-media civil rights advocacy groups, the major white-owned video programming distributors have concocted ways to perpetuate the exclusion of truly 100 percent African-American-owned networks,” the complaint said. AT&T/DirecTV has declined to pay to carry the programmer’s channels, but has entered into carriage agreements with “other, similarly situated white-owned channels,” the complaint said. The programmer at the heart of the lawsuit has offered seven channels to AT&T/DirecTV, including a 24-hour news channel, but was offered carriage only for large fees, the complaint said. “Although Defendants’ African American subscribers pay very substantial subscriber fees, and constitute a significant advertising target for Defendants, Defendants pay nothing to 100 percent African-American-owned media for channel carriage and nearly nothing for advertising,” the complaint said. The complaint also attacks the FCC and some civil rights groups for contributing to the exclusion of African-American-owned media companies. “AT&T is paying off non-media, so-called African-American civil rights groups … in order to ‘buy’ their endorsement for its acquisition of DirecTV,” the complaint said. “Diversity is a top priority for AT&T,” the telco said in a released statement. DirecTV didn't comment. An AT&T spokesman said the company spent $15.5 billion “with diverse suppliers” in 2013, and most U-Verse customers have access to several African-American-oriented networks and Justice Central, a 100 percent African-American-owned television network. AT&T has agreed to buy DirecTV.