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Communications

Contact

Scott R. Flick
Partner, Washington, DC
T: +1.202.663.8167
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Areas of Focus

For more than 85 years, Pillsbury’s Communications practice has been instrumental in helping to shape the communications industry in the United States.

Pillsbury’s Communications lawyers are involved in nearly every facet of U.S. communications policymaking, rulemaking and litigation before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), state public utility commissions and the courts. We have the depth of transactional experience that comes from handling more than $185 billion worth of communications industry acquisitions, joint ventures, financings and other transactions.

Our Communications attorneys represent a broad array of clients in all areas of the industry. The team has deep knowledge of all aspects of the communications industry—the law, the technology and the markets. Through many decades of practice, we have built effective working relationships with FCC and state public utility commission staff members, state and national trade associations, legislators and industry players of all sizes, giving us unique insight and ability to meet our clients’ needs. A sampling of these insights can be found on our CommLawCenter blog.

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Our cross-disciplinary teams find solutions to a wide variety of client business challenges, advising on communications legal and regulatory issues, financing, M&A and other industry transactions, as well as litigation and other forms of dispute resolution. Our services include:

  • FCC, state and international regulatory counseling and compliance
  • Mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances
  • Litigation, administrative proceedings and alternative dispute resolution
  • Public and private securities offerings, loans and other financing transactions
  • Private equity investment advising and structuring
  • Bankruptcies, receiverships, restructurings and workouts
  • Siting and construction of telecom infrastructure, including tower acquisitions and leasing
  • Retransmission negotiations, contracts and litigation
  • Programming, music rights and licensing transactions
  • General marketing, promotions, sweepstakes and advertising advice, including political advertising
  • Telecommunications sourcing
  • Internet streaming
  • New media development
  • Privacy, data and information use
  • State and local communications tax issues

Industries we serve:

  • Media—TV and radio
    • We represent hundreds of television and radio station licensees throughout the United States, as well as lenders, shareholders and investors in the broadcast industry; numerous state broadcasters associations; and the umbrella organization of all 50 state broadcasters’ associations. These representations include matters before the FCC, Congress, appellate courts, trial courts, state legislatures and various federal agencies.
  • Telecommunications
    •  Our firm represents wireline and VoIP service providers, including the leading trade association of the VoIP industry, and investors and lenders to the telecom sector.
  • Satellite 
    • Our lawyers advise clients on licensing issues and on domestic and international spectrum allocation and coordination issues that arise in implementing a communications satellite program.
  • Wireless
    • We represent wireless licensees and investors in financings, mergers, joint ventures and other transactions, as well as in FCC proceedings.
  • Cable and multichannel video delivery systems
    •  We advise and assist multichannel video program distributors on programming, equipment, regulatory and transactional matters.
  • Advertising, promotions and sweepstakes
    • Our lawyers help advertisers and media navigate the complicated array of federal, state and third-party advertising; contests; and sweepstakes requirements and restrictions.
  • New media
    • We guide some of the most innovative companies in the industry through the regulatory process of obtaining governmental approvals for new technologies and equipment, and help them to protect their intellectual property, raise financing, and establish important partnerships and alliances.
  • Content and privacy
    • Regardless of the method of distribution, our lawyers assist clients with content-related legal issues, including defamation, payola, intellectual property rights, media access, political advertising and privacy law, as well as the growing emphasis on application of these laws to social media.

Representative Experience

  • Represented Media General Inc. in its successful $4.6 billion merger with Nexstar Broadcasting Group following its $2.6 billion acquisition of LIN Media.
  • Represented Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., through its newly formed indirect wholly owned subsidiary, Diamond Sports Group, LLC, as finance, securities and FCC regulatory counsel in its $10.6 billion acquisition from The Walt Disney Company of its interests in 21 Regional Sports Networks and Fox College Sports, which were acquired by Disney in its acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc.
  • Represented Grupo Televisa, S.A.B. in a Joint Petition for Declaratory Ruling that successfully obtained the first FCC approval for a foreign entity to prospectively hold more than 25 percent of the shares of a U.S. television broadcast company.

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  • RSN Financing:
    • Represented Sinclair in connection with its indirect subsidiary, Diamond Sports Group, LLC, in obtaining senior secured credit facilities in the aggregate principal amount of $3.95 billion, comprising a $3.3 billion term loan facility and a $650 million revolving credit facility.
    • Represented Sinclair in connection with its indirect subsidiaries, Diamond Sports Group, LLC and Diamond Sports Finance Company, in Rule 144A/Reg S offerings of $3.05 billion and $1.825 billion aggregate principal amount of senior notes.
  • Represented GTCR as regulatory counsel in the sale of its portfolio company GreatCall, a leading provider of communications, connected health technology and emergency response services, to Best Buy Co., Inc. for approximately $800 million.
  • Represented Sinclair in connection with its direct wholly owned subsidiary Sinclair Television Group, Inc. obtaining senior secured credit facilities consisting of a $700 million incremental term loan facility on the same terms as the $600 million incremental term loan facility borrowed on August 13, 2019, and a $650 million revolving credit facility.
  • Represented Sinclair as it teamed with the New York Yankees’ parent company, Amazon.com, and private investment firms to acquire the YES Network in a deal with an enterprise value of $3.47 billion.
  • Represented the Voice on the Net Coalition, the leading trade association of the internet communications industry.
  • Launched Standard Media Group LLC, a broadcast station acquisition vehicle designed to leverage the burgeoning consolidation in the TV industry to grow a major new entrant among the largest TV broadcast group owners. Pillsbury handled all aspects, including financing, of the company’s $83 million acquisition of the Citadel TV stations in 2019, and its $60 million acquisition of the Waypoint TV and radio stations.
  • Represented NASBA, the umbrella organization of all 50 state broadcasters’ associations, as well as individual state broadcasters associations in a variety of policy and rulemaking proceedings before Congress, the FCC and other federal agencies.
  • Represented private equity player Standard General in its successful negotiations with Emmis Communications to create a new jointly owned and publicly traded entity, Mediaco Holding, which acquired Emmis’s top-rated radio stations in New York, with Standard General acquiring the controlling interest in Mediaco.
  • Represented Sinclair Television Group in numerous broadcast station acquisitions, including those of station groups Allbritton, Barrington, Bonten, Fisher and Titan.
  • Represented the National Association of Broadcasters in rulemaking matters before the FCC.
  • Represented Shield Media in litigation with DISH over retransmission consent agreements.
  • Represented Live Sports Radio in obtaining temporary and experimental authorizations to provide live broadcast service at sporting events, conventions and other public venues.
  • Represented television and radio broadcasters before the FCC in connection with reconstruction of facilities after Hurricane Maria and in the spectrum repack of TV stations following the FCC’s Broadcast Incentive Auction.
  • Represented Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises in the sale of its interests in five radio stations in the Rapid City market to Riverfront Broadcasting for $3.6 million.
  • Handled all aspects of the $25 million sale to Scripps Broadcasting Holdings LLC of the first digital television station in the U.S., WHDT-DT, in the West Palm Beach, Florida market.
  • Handled various noncommercial station acquisitions, including the University of Missouri’s acquisitions of noncommercial radio stations KWJC (FM), Liberty, Missouri from William Jewell College and WQUB (FM), Quincy, Illinois from Quincy University.
  • Represented television and radio broadcasters before the FCC in connection with both the reconstruction of facilities after Hurricane Maria and the post-auction spectrum repack nationwide.

Practice Area Highlights

  • Recognized by Chambers USA for Telecom, Broadcast & Satellite (2021 – 2024) and Media & Entertainment: Regulatory (2022 – 2024) in Washington, DC.
  • Recognized nationally by The Legal 500 U.S. for Telecoms and Broadcast: Regulatory (2008 – 2024).
  • Recognized by Best Lawyers for Communications Law.

Resources

Factsheet

Sparing a Trillion-Dollar Industry from a Single Supplier's Dispute

Blog

CommLawCenter

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