Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios And NAAAOM Demand The New Jersey Board Of Public Utilities Immediately Stay Their Order Granting The Time Warner Cable Transfer To Charter
Petition Demands that Division of Rate Counsel Address Racial Discrimination by Charter and Schedule a Hearing
Apr 28, 2016, 12:25 ET
LOS ANGELES, April 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Entertainment Studios, Inc. and The National Association of African American-Owned Media (NAAAOM) on Wednesday, April 27, 2016, sent a letter to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) alerting them that BPU has facilitated racial discrimination in contracting due to its approval of the Charter Communications (Charter) acquisition of Time Warner Cable (Time Warner).
On March 3, 2016, Entertainment Studios and NAAAOM presented BPU their specific concerns due to its approval of Charter's acquisition of Time Warner. Nevertheless, a Stipulation of Settlement was executed on March 31, 2016 and made effective April 1, 2016.
In approving the transfer of control of Time Warner to Charter, without addressing Charter's discriminatory conduct and its impact on a large portion of American society, the BPU has facilitated and enabled violations of Entertainment Studios' equal protection rights under the United States Constitution, the anti-discrimination provisions of the New Jersey Constitution, and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. The BPU, like all state governmental entities in New Jersey, has an affirmative obligation to enforce these anti-discrimination laws and to assure that its own actions do not foster racial discrimination. The BPU actions facilitate Charter's continuing racial discrimination in contracting under the leadership of Tom Rutledge, Chief Executive Officer and President of Charter Communications.
"We are actively pursuing all of our legal options to address this failure by the BPU to prevent this institutionalized discrimination," said Byron Allen, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Entertainment Studios. "The silence of the New Jersey BPU, Governor Chris Christie, and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is deafening and complicit. We will push for enforceable conditions and hold all government regulators and politicians fully accountable for supporting this racism."
"We will pursue every legal option to make sure the government regulators and politicians in the states of Hawaii and California do not support the racist practices of Charter, as the regulators have done in New Jersey," said Mark DeVitre, President of NAAAOM.
"The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has violated our civil rights and public trust by ignoring this historic $10 billion lawsuit against Charter and rubber stamping their approval in New Jersey," said Entertainment Studios counsel Rocky L. Peterson, Senior Counsel, Hill Wallack, LLP. "This is institutionalized racism. The BPU will be held fully accountable."
The full letter sent to the Division of Rate Counsel of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities on April 27, 2016 can be accessed at:
http://www.naaaom.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/04593692.pdf
About Entertainment Studios
Entertainment Studios, Inc. owns seven 24-hour HD cable networks serving nearly 80 million subscribers: PETS.TV, COMEDY.TV, RECIPE.TV, CARS.TV, ES.TV, MYDESTINATION.TV, and JUSTICE CENTRAL.TV. The company also produces, distributes, and sells advertising for 40 television programs, making it one of the largest independent producers/distributors of first-run syndicated television programming for broadcast television stations. With a library of over 5,000 hours of owned content across multiple genres, Entertainment Studios provides video content to broadcast television stations, cable television networks, mobile devices, multimedia platforms, and the World Wide Web. Our mission is to provide excellent programming to our viewers, online users, and Fortune 500 advertising partners. Chairman and CEO Byron Allen founded the company in 1993. Headquartered in Los Angeles, it has offices in New York, Chicago, Denver, and Raleigh. For more information, visit: www.es.tv
About NAAAOM
NAAAOM's mission is to eliminate racial discrimination and secure the economic inclusion of truly 100% African American-owned media through fair contracting and equal treatment practices. www.naaaom.com
SOURCE Entertainment Studios, Inc.