Industries: Technology & Telecommunications

Communications

The lawyers in our Communications Practice provide comprehensive services to the full spectrum of companies including telecommunications service providers, broadcast radio and TV stations, cable TV operators, retailers, real estate developers, communications equipment manufacturers and major purchasers of communications services and technologies. We also regularly represent satellite companies, wireless carriers, multimedia companies, software developers, networking companies, ISPs, and major banks and venture capital firms providing financing for these high-tech industries. The continuously evolving landscape of electronic communication services and technologies impacts each player in the industry differently, and we contribute a broad set of experiences and knowledge.

Without appropriate regulatory authorization, telecommunications companies cannot provide service, equipment manufacturers cannot sell products, and corporate transactions cannot be completed. We perform a wide range of regulatory and related work for cable television companies, voice (telephone, wireless, and VoIP) and satellite companies, as well as equipment manufacturers and resellers. Our group has extensive dealings with the FCC, FTC, FBI, the ITU in Geneva and regulators in other countries. On behalf of our clients we have submitted countless regulatory filings in every U.S. state. We assist foreign companies desiring to enter the U.S. market and assist U.S. companies entering foreign markets. Our services include advising on basic regulatory requirements, giving strategic updates on relevant FCC regulatory activity, preparing and filing pleadings and radio license applications at the FCC, planning bidding strategies for FCC auctions, and court appeals of adverse FCC rulings. We have established important precedents that have shaped the regulatory environment and our clients’ industries.
In order to remain competitive, communications and high-tech companies often need to move into new markets or divest non-core assets. We have represented acquirers and sellers in hundreds of communications and technology acquisitions. Our experience and focus have enabled us to efficiently resolve unique problems that arise in such acquisitions. We have negotiated, closed, and implemented mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and other corporate and commercial transactions involving service providers in the telephone, broadcast radio and TV, cable TV, satellite, wireless telecommunications and Internet service industries. We also have extensive experience in negotiating high-tech commercial transactions to provide clients with favorable terms and appropriate safeguards to ensure that their rights are protected.

Our lawyers have wide-ranging skill representing clients in disputes in administrative, court and alternative dispute forums. Our experience includes disputes involving billing issues, claims of breach of service contracts and revenue sharing agreements, rights to broadcast licenses, carriage of programming on cable systems, interconnection disagreements and U.S. landing rights for telecommunications lines. Additionally, we represent clients in investigations by the FCC, FTC, state attorneys general, and other state regulatory agencies, including appeals of adverse regulatory agency action and in matters involving alleged antitrust violations and consumer group complaints. The Communications Group assists clients in maintaining regulatory compliance before the FCC, state public service commissions, and local franchise authorities for numerous local telephone companies, long distance companies and cable TV operators.