Freehills' full-service media and broadcasting practice advises major players in each sector of the media. We have strong transactional and regulatory experience, which combined with our track record in the telecommunications and online sectors, ensures our clients are well-informed and well positioned to benefit from regulatory and market changes.

Our media and broadcasting services include:

• ownership and control issues
• obtaining and defending access to networks
• digital conversion
• Pay TV and other subscription services
• content rights and agreements
• defamation
• regulatory advice
• sport, gaming and wagering advice

Our team has extensive experience in the media and broadcasting industries, and a deep understanding of the technological changes driving digital convergence. Highlights of some of our relevant experience with both content and carriage include:

Ownership and control

• Advising owners and purchasers on concentration issues and limitations.
• Successfully obtaining approval for temporary breaches of the ownership limitations in the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (Cth).
• Providing advice on cross-media ownership rules, preparing submissions to regulators on cross-media ownership and advising in relation to enquiries by the Australian Communications and Media Authority into potential breaches of the cross-media ownership rules.
• Providing advice on foreign ownership and advising in relation to enquiries by the Australian Communications and Media Authority into potential breaches of the foreign ownership rules.
• Advising banks and other operators and investors in relation to foreign ownership of Australian media interests.

Access 

• Advising on strategies for obtaining and defending access to broadband networks, including access by broadcasters to networks owned or controlled by telecommunications operators, and the preparation of submissions to government.
• Recommending changes to policy and regulatory regimes, advising clients, and making submissions to government in relation to inconsistencies and complexities that arise between differing legislative and regulatory structures in a converging environment.

Digital conversion

• Acting for newspaper publishers and for pay television providers on various initiatives in relation to government policy for digital terrestrial television.
• Advising on the commercial and regulatory arrangements for commencement of digital radio broadcasts.

Pay TV and other subscription services 

• Acting for participants in the pay TV industry since the first licences were issued in 1992.
• Advising on the establishment of the second metropolitan pay television provider in Australia.
• Acting for a major regional pay television provider since its inception and in relation to the acquisition of its original licences.
• Acting for the consortium which identified a 'loophole' enabling pay TV via MDS microwave licences, and in its Federal Court challenge to the controversial ministerial directions preventing pay TV via MDS licences.

Content

• Advising on the establishment of an Australia-wide digital video network.
• Negotiating satellite services agreements for the transmission of racing services to sites throughout Australia and other satellite capacity agreements.
• Negotiating agreements for the carriage of digital television services by satellite and digital video networks.
• Negotiating customer satellite services agreements.
• Advising on the restructuring of the Australian pay TV industry, including negotiating satellite transmission and related content supply agreements.
• Conducting due diligence of broadcast transmission and distribution arrangements.
• Acting on major content and production deals, and major local and international sports rights licensing and other supply arrangements.
• Negotiating channel distribution agreements.

Defamation

• Pre-publication advice, defamation litigation, contempt litigation, suppression orders, media access to court rooms and access to court documents.

Regulatory

• Regulatory advice on the operation of broadcasting and radio-communications legislation, including making submissions to governments, ministerial advisers and government advisers on changes to legislation affecting the communications industry and advising clients on the impact of new legislation.
• Advising and making submissions to regulators on market definition in pay TV, broadcasting and telecommunications industries (in both contentious and non-contentious matters).
• Advising clients and making submissions to government in relation to cross-media and foreign ownership restrictions for free-to-air and subscription television in Australia.
• Advising clients and making submissions to government in relation to the introduction in Australia of digital terrestrial television and the controversial data-casting regime.

Sport, gaming and wagering

• Structuring, negotiating and documenting complex sponsorship arrangements and marketing initiatives which incorporate the latest thinking.
• Advice on player and team endorsement arrangements.
• Project finance, construction and environmental issues, novel funding arrangements and operator agreements.
• Broadcasting, content and right agreements for traditional and new media.
• Navigating the complex and changing regulatory environment in the gaming, wagering and lotteries industry.
• In-depth product knowledge, including interactive wagering, pooling and co-mingling arrangements.