Jason Rademacher

The US Supreme Court ruled on April 1, 2021 that the Federal Communications Commission was within its authority to repeal or modify three long-standing media ownership controls. The decision aligned with arguments Cooley made in amicus briefs submitted on behalf of Gray Television that, after years of challenges, the FCC’s modernized rules finally should be allowed to take effect because the agency issued them in full compliance with its obligations under Section 202(h) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court found no issues with the agency’s 2017 decision, which eliminated bans on broadcast-newspaper and television-radio cross-ownership, nixed restrictions on cross-station advertising agreements and dropped a diversity-of-viewpoints rule for local markets. Lawyers David Mills, Robert McDowell and Barrett Anderson led the Cooley effort.

Cooley advised Meredith Corporation on its agreement to sell its local media group, which consists of 17 television stations reaching 11% of US households and 30 million viewers, to Gray Television for $2.8 billion. Partners Kevin Mills, Aaron Binstock and Michael Basile led the Cooley team advising Meredith on the deal.

Cooley advised ION Media on its agreement to sell to E.W. Scripps for $2.65 billion, combining the business with Scripps' Katz networks and Newsy to create a full-scale national television networks business. Lawyers John Feore and Jason Rademacher led the Cooley team advising ION.

Cooley represented Apollo Global Management in the $3.484 billion acquisition by PE funds affiliated with Apollo of the broadcast television businesses of Northwest Broadcasting and Cox Media Group, CMG’s radio station portfolio, CoxReps, the nation’s largest national television rep company, and Gamut, a national advertising business.