Christian & Barton serves as outside counsel to various media organizations, advising them on the legal aspects of their operations. Our clients include traditional publishers, broadcasters and cable television operators, as well as trade associations with interests in these industries.
We stay informed on Federal Communications Commission actions relating to broadcast and cable television, and advise clients on FCC compliance in the operation of cable and broadcast properties. As lawyers for the media, we assist broadcast and cable companies in negotiating cable franchises, negotiating affiliation or syndication agreements, resolving local franchise matters, reviewing tower leases, and complying with federal regulations.
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We have worked on numerous transactions involving acquisitions, mergers and sales of newspapers, broadcast stations, cable television franchises, and movie theater chains throughout the United States. Our active role in these transactions translates into extensive experience in issues involving operational control, financing, shareholder agreements, tax planning, antitrust compliance, and labor regulations. We also have acted as counsel to borrowers and investors in the financing of many media transactions.
As media entities address issues of media convergence, we have stayed abreast of developing legal issues. The firm has been actively involved in emerging online and internet issues, including web listing, hosting and development agreements, content licensing and web affiliation agreements.
Our lawyers have a reputation for expertise in issues that arise daily out of newsgathering and information dissemination. We frequently counsel clients on laws concerning access to information, including federal and state freedom of information statutes and laws involving access to public bodies and courts. We provide pre-publication and pre-broadcast review of content to manage risk for our clients, and we defend them in cases that arise out of their operations, including claims of defamation, invasion of privacy, misappropriation of image and copyright infringement. We represent both individual reporters and their organizations when they receive subpoenas to testify or provide records in judicial or legislative proceedings. We engage in legislative advocacy at the state and federal level to advance the First Amendment-based and statutory rights of our media clients.
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