Practices

Communications Regulatory

Why Cooley

Cooley has one of the largest and most diverse communications practices in the United States, with a team of 15+ lawyers who have experience representing virtually all segments in communications and related industries regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other state and local government agencies.

Our lawyers are intimately involved in all types of FCC rulemaking proceedings and other policy initiatives important to the sector. We leverage our industry relationships and deep understanding of legislative and regulatory processes – which are informed by the insights of our team members who have worked within key agencies – to anticipate how and when policies will affect our clients and identify strategies to mitigate impact.

We work with emerging and established communications companies alike, with a particular emphasis on the media and space sectors. As our clients have innovated and developed new technologies, our practice has similarly evolved. We represent more than 25 television station group clients owning and operating 500+ stations. Additionally, we have assisted the geospatial services industry as it expands GPS and other navigation offerings, and we’ve been at the forefront of the commercial unmanned aerial vehicle industry and its relationship with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). We also regularly counsel emerging companies as they shape their businesses around technologies that use spectrum, satellite or global positioning navigation, and create and distribute content on platforms regulated by government or state agencies.

Cooley’s communications team is part of our CooleyREG offering, through which we combine an understanding of the impact of disruptive advancements – and the regulatory issues that impose risk and slow progress – to help our clients navigate an increasingly complex regulatory landscape.

Areas of practice

Telecommunications

  • Assisting clients on key issues related to spectrum aggregation and competition, including interconnection, universal service, telephone number portability, privacy, and entry into rural markets
  • Counseling clients on adherence to regulatory requirements imposed by the FCC and federal and state agencies, including limitations on the use of artificial intelligence

TV and radio broadcasting

  • Representing clients in structuring, negotiating and consummating acquisition, financing, local marketing, joint sales, management, programming, and shared services agreements – from initial due diligence through closing and post-closing matters
  • Advising broadcast clients on major FCC policy initiatives
  • Representing investment banks, commercial banks and media companies in connection with private and public equity and debt financing transactions, as well as in restructurings and bankruptcy proceedings

Wireless

  • Counseling clients on regulatory matters, including auction policy, wireless number portability, early termination fees, wireless interconnection and intercarrier compensation
  • Assisting clients in the startup phase of their wireless businesses, including obtaining spectrum in an auction, acquiring and managing network infrastructure, purchasing and leasing tower sites, developing strategies for compliance with license requirements and FCC operational rules, preparing customer agreements, and negotiating intercarrier agreements

Spacetech and satellite

  • Guiding satellite companies through contract negotiations, mergers and acquisitions, licensing, patent, and copyright issues
  • Representing clients in compliance matters before the FAA and FCC, as well as the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and the Department of Justice

Enforcement

  • Challenging adverse enforcement decisions in courts
  • Representing clients in enforcement proceedings ranging from individual complaints, notices of inquiry and notices of apparent liability to broad, industrywide inquiries

M&A

  • Assisting in all stages of sale, swap, and purchase transactions involving media and communications businesses, beginning with due diligence and determinations regarding regulatory compliance and potential economic effects of likely regulatory or legislative changes
  • Evaluating and addressing business and regulatory issues in proposed transactions
  • Preparing, negotiating and consummating all transaction documents and related agreements

Communications litigation

  • Representing clients throughout the United States in trial and appellate courts and before administrative agencies
  • Advising clients on a broad range of disputes relating to transactions, corporate governance, communications standards, open access, radio and television affiliation agreements, syndication rights, wireless license rights, and spectrum auctions and spectrum allocations, as well issues relating to broadcast retransmissions and other copyright disputes

Financial transactions

  • Serving as special counsel to companies in complex financial transactions subject to federal and state regulation, including regulatory due diligence, compliance counseling, and remedies enforcement
  • Guiding financial institutions – from investment and commercial banks to private equity firms – in analyzing regulated industries and identifying new opportunities

Cable and broadband

  • Preparing and negotiating contracts for cable systems, including commercial leased access channel agreements, easement and building access agreements, multidwelling unit (MDU) agreements, agreements for business services, pole attachment and conduit agreements, fiber lease and sharing agreements, roaming agreements, and municipal franchise agreements
  • Handling acquisition, disposition and financing agreements for cable operators

Navigation equipment and technology

  • Representing established and emerging companies in the geospatial services industry, including manufacturers of GPS devices and unmanned aerial vehicles
  • Advising clients on regulatory challenges and working to ensure that regulatory policies are conducive to the development of their businesses

Unmanned aerial vehicles

  • Counseling on compliance with regulatory requirements imposed by local, state and federal agencies, including the FAA
  • Assisting proponents of emerging technologies with legal and business issues arising from proposed and existing legislative and regulatory regimes, including before Congress and in agency rulemaking

Privacy and data protection

  • Providing the full spectrum of counseling and litigation capabilities in privacy, data rights and cybersecurity
  • Advising on privacy concerns associated with the use of communications technologies

Intellectual property (IP)

  • Formulating and implementing effective IP development and protection strategies while overseeing clients’ interests in a diverse range of business transactions
  • Counseling clients on standards organizations and other regulatory agencies
  • Educating clients on the overlapping and complementary relationships between patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets
  • Handling a high volume of technology and licensing agreements covering virtually every media and entertainment platform

Representative matters

Telecommunications

  • T-Mobile in its strategic policy regarding spectrum and spectrum licenses
  • T-Mobile in litigation in Washington state courts regarding the taxation of Lifeline service
  • T-Mobile on its acquisition of Sprint
  • CallTower in its investment from BV Investment Partners
  • Zoom in its proposed acquisition of Five9
  • Ribbon Communications on cross-border investments
  • TWN before the FCC regarding the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund
  • Iridium Communications in its acquisition of Satelles
  • Telecommunications company in an investigation into auction practices
  • Cox Communications on the regulatory, corporate and antitrust aspects of its $300 million sale of Advanced Wireless Services spectrum to Verizon Wireless, as well as creation of the follow-on joint marketing arrangements between Cox and Verizon Wireless
  • Major broadcast network in an FCC investigation on the Emergency Alert System (EAS) rules
  • Iridium Communications in its opposition to Ligado Network’s request to modify licenses for terrestrial mobile use
  • Competitive Carriers Association on its amicus brief in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit arguing to uphold a lower court’s injunction barring enforcement of New York’s Affordable Broadband Act
  • SoftBank Corp. on the regulatory aspects of its $21.6 billion acquisition of Sprint Nextel Corp.
  • Shamrock Capital Advisors in connection with its agreement to sell Mobilitie to BAI Communications
  • CenturyLink (as lead and liaison counsel) in multidistrict litigation involving 75+ consolidated lawsuits and 600+ defendants concerning allegations of improper collection of “access charges” for wireless calls – the court dismissed the case with prejudice
  • Large telecommunications carrier in multiple FCC investigations concerning vendor data breach issues and potential violations of the broadband mapping rules

TV and media

  • Gray Television on its acquisition of Quincy Media, Raycom Media and Schurz Communications, among numerous other transactions
  • Meredith Corp. in its sale of broadcast television stations to Gray Television
  • Gray Television in its amicus brief before the US Supreme Court in support of the FCC’s repeal and modification of media ownership rules
  • Gray Television in its appeal of an FCC enforcement order before the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
  • Gray Television in a US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit suit challenging an FCC forfeiture order
  • Apollo Global Management in its acquisition of Cox Media Group and Northwest Broadcasting
  • Meredith Corp. in its acquisition of Time
  • Meredith Corp. on its agreement to sell its national media group to IAC’s Dotdash
  • Broadsoft in its sale to Cisco
  • ION Media on its agreement to sell to E.W. Scripps for $2.65 billion
  • Digity Companies on its $264 million sale to Alpha Media
  • Harpo and Oprah Winfrey in connection with the formation of OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, a 50/50 joint venture with Discovery Communications to rebrand the Discovery Health Network
  • Major US cable companies in connection with their cable affiliation and programming distribution agreements, including affiliation agreements for carriage of the Fox suite of cable programming services, Univision, HBO and various regional sports networks

Spacetech and satellite

  • Axiom Space in its request for regulatory approval of private astronaut missions
  • OneNav in its efforts to obtain regulatory relief for deployment of next-generation GPS satellites
  • JetBlue on the regulatory aspects of its $400 million sale of its subsidiary, LiveTV, to Thales Holding Corp.
  • Garmin International in its successful defense of GPS spectrum and services against interference that would have been caused by LightSquared’s proposed high‐powered terrestrial broadband network