For decades, Paul, Weiss has advised on the most significant and complex matters in the media and entertainment world—from game-changing transactions and innovative financings to precedent-setting litigations and multifaceted crises. With experience on all sides of transactions across these industries, including on the financing, production, talent and distribution sides, we offer our clients the market insight and sophisticated, commercial advice they need to protect and grow their business.
From iconic movie studios to the most popular music publishers, and from private equity investors and tech platforms to A-List celebrities, Paul, Weiss represents leading players across the media and entertainment landscape. Clients come to us for comprehensive, commercial advice across the legal spectrum, including best-in-class M&A, finance, securities, restructuring, tax, employment and intellectual property capabilities; a world-renowned Litigation Department; and one of the most respected Entertainment practices at a New York-based firm.
We provide advice on:
- 鶹Ƶ/M&A
- public and private M&A and investments
- media-focused joint ventures
- restructuring
- bespoke structured financing arrangements, including film, television and music rights-based financings and securitizations of sports media receivables
- music catalog, film/TV library acquisitions
- Advisory Entertainment
- production, distribution and financing of individual or slates of film, television, music, location-based and other live entertainment projects
- talent and rights representations across all entertainment industry sectors
- traditional and digital publishing arrangements
- book publishing arrangements
- Intellectual Property & Licensing
- IP licensing and distribution agreements
- copyright and royalty disputes
- brand licensing
- media and endorsement contracts
- Investigations and Dispute Resolution
- internal investigations
- franchise threatening litigation
- high-stakes litigation
- antitrust and regulatory matters
- broadcasting rights and carrier disputes
Paul, Weiss lawyers have long steered the deals and disputes that have transformed the media and entertainment industry, including two of the largest television and broadcasting deals in history. Recognized by Chambers USA as a Band 1 firm for corporate advice to the industry, by U.S. News as a “Best Law Firm” for Media Law, and by numerous publications for its leading media and entertainment litigation team, we offer the strength and support of a full-service firm and the niche industry knowledge and expertise of a media and entertainment boutique. Our experience spans both traditional media—including film, music, television, publishing and live theater—and digital media, from streaming and social media to virtual and augmented reality platforms.
We represent:
- leading broadcast networks
- telecom and media infrastructure companies
- new media and online platforms
- high-net-worth, media-focused individual investors
- private equity firms and investors
- talent management agencies
- film and television production studios
- resorts, cruise lines and theme parks
- casinos and online gaming companies
- music artists and publishers
- print publishers
- video game companies
- live entertainment venues and theater companies
- A-list talent, performers and individual celebrities
“All members from junior associates to senior partners are knowledgeable and one step ahead.”
- Chambers USA
Recent
Experience
Recognition
Chambers USA: Band 1 in Media & Entertainment
- The American Lawyer: named partners Kyle Seifried and Scott Barshay 2024 “Dealmakers of the Year” for guiding WWE in its $21B merger with UFC to form TKO Group
- Jay Cohen earned Billboard’s “Top Music Lawyer” title (5th year running) for representing ASCAP in rate court proceedings securing fair pay for creators
- Legal 500 US: continues to recognize as a Leading Firm in the Media & Entertainment
Recent Engagements
- Advance, founder and major shareholder of Discovery, in the $150 billion Reverse Morris Trust transaction that will combine AT&T’s WarnerMedia business with Discovery
- Apollo Global Management in its $6.3 billion acquisition of International Game Technology’s gaming and digital business IGT Gaming and Everi Holdings; its $5 billion acquisition of Verizon Media, which is comprised of iconic brands such as Yahoo and AOL, as well as leading ad tech and media platform businesses; its joint venture with Sony Music Group in connection with its purchase of a portfolio of music assets and related rights from two legendary British rock groups; and in connection with the launch of HarbourView Equity Partners, an alternative asset manager focused on investment opportunities in the media and entertainment space founded by Sherrese Clarke Soares
- Ares Management’s Private Equity Group as lead investor in a $550 million growth investment in Virgin Voyages
- Boat Rocker Media in the sale of a majority stake in Untitled Entertainment to TPG
- Brookfield Asset Management in its acquisition of a significant minority stake in Primary Wave Music, an independent publisher of iconic and legendary music, as part of a new strategic partnership valued at over $2 billion, and its additional $1.7 billion capital funding commitment
- The special committee of the board of directors of CBS Corp. in its merger with Viacom to form ViacomCBS a combined company with an enterprise value of more than $40 billion that brings together some of the most iconic names in media, including CBS News, Nickelodeon, Showtime, BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Paramount, CBS All Access, Showtime Anytime and Pluto TV
- GAME 7 and Mark Messier in the establishment of a new media content creator and performance lifestyle platform
- Goldman Sachs and its affiliates as agent, lender and initial purchaser in connection with the establishment of a financing platform for music copyrights, royalties and related assets for Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis. Hipgnosis is the largest U.K.-listed investor in music catalogs and royalties, with gross assets of $2.7 billion
- KKR, as lead investor, in a $400 million strategic investment round in Skydance Media, an independent media company founded by producer and actor David Ellison that produces leading film, television, video game and other entertainment, including Top Gun: Maverick, Netflix’s Grace and Frankie and many others
- Legendary Entertainment, subsidiary of the Wanda Group, in the $760 million sale of a minority stake to funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management
- Liberty Strategic Capital in its investment in Lionsgate Entertainment
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in its $8.45 billion sale to Amazon
- The special committee of the board of directors of Madison Square Garden Entertainment in the spin-off of its traditional live entertainment businesses, to create a new publicly traded company known as Sphere Entertainment
- Time Warner Cable in various matters, including its $78.7 billion merger with Charter Communications
- World Wrestling Entertainment in its agreement with Endeavor Group Holdings to merge WWE with UFC to form a new publicly listed company with an enterprise value of $21.4 billion
- Our film/television representations of Miramax Films, Imagine Entertainment, Dimension Films and Amazon Studios, of celebrated actors and directors including Sigourney Weaver, Spike Lee, Jonathan Demme and Meg Ryan and television personalities Jim Cramer (“Mad Money”) and Ina Garten (“The Barefoot Contessa”)
- Our decades-long representations of legendary recording artists and songwriters including Dolly Parton, Barry White, Family of Bob Marley, Trey Songz and the Cole Porter Trusts
Litigation
- Advance and several current and former officers and directors in a shareholder class action brought in the Delaware Court of Chancery asserting breach of fiduciary duty claims related to the $43 billion merger between AT&T’s WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc., which Advance founded and is a majority shareholder of
- The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the oldest and largest music performing rights organization in the United States in connection with the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice’s review of the Consent Decree in United States v. ASCAP, and its consideration of proposed modifications to the decree; and in achieving a favorable outcome at trial to determine the reasonable license fee for the use of musical works in the ASCAP repertory by music service Pandora
- National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) in several litigations, including copyright infringement actions and rate-setting proceedings for reproduction and distribution royalties; and most recently in securing the favorable settlement of a high-profile copyright infringement action brought against Peloton Interactive concerning Peloton’s use of the publishers’ musical works in its workout videos. Paul, Weiss also secured the dismissal of Peloton’s countersuit alleging various antitrust violations
- News Corp and News America Marketing (NAM) in several antitrust matters, including most recently an antitrust claim brought by competitor Valassis Communications, which Paul, Weiss successfully tried to a jury in the Southern District of New York; securing the dismissal of another antitrust claim by Valassis alleging that NAM violated a consent order resolving an earlier dispute through unlawful bundling and tying; and the favorable settlement of a significant antitrust class action brought by customers of NAM’s in-store marketing products, including consumer products companies Dial, Heinz and Smithfield Foods, claiming that NAM illegally monopolized an alleged market for in-store promotional services by engaging in a variety of alleged exclusionary practices