When it comes to high-level tech deal making in Silicon Valley, court decisions have watered down the legal protections that emerged from the civil rights movement, the Washington Post found.
One of them was a Supreme Court decision earlier this year. “Byron Allen, an African American and the founder of Entertainment Studios, sued cable TV companies Comcast and Charter after the providers refused to carry Allen’s channels,” Reed Albergotti wrote.
The Supreme Court sided with Comcast in March, agreeing that Allen needed to prove Entertainment Studios would have earned the contract were it not for race, according to the news outlet. In June, however, Comcast reached a cable TV network carriage deal with Allen’s company, Los Angeles Business Journal reported recently. Litigation with Charter is ongoing, the journal noted.
For today’s Plug In South LA Beat, our regular curation of must-read innovation and tech news, we’re diving into the legal hurdles that Black startup founders face — and getting an inside look at where Allen sees opportunities for growth:
Black Start-up Founders Say Venture Capitalists Are Racist, But the Law Protects Them
Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios Is Hungry for More Acquisitions