The Legal 500

Within Telecoms and broadcast: regulatory, Dow Lohnes PLLC is a second tier firm,

Dow Lohnes PLLC 25-strong telecoms regulatory team handles broadcast and cable matters for clients across the media sector, and is commended as an ‘outstanding boutique with a pulse on specific industry issues and ability to provide practical advice’. Michael Basile and his team represented a coalition of 16 local television station groups that own and operate 225 stations in an FCC proceeding focused on the delivery of high-speed broadband services to underserved areas of the country and the possibility of using additional radio frequency spectrum to support wireless broadband networks. Network neutrality is another important concern. Having built outward from a core of media clients, the team has embraced the regulatory and transactional aspects of industry consolidation and the collocation of services and has assisted numerous television station clients in successfully completing the transition of their transmission facilities from analog to digital operation. The team assists media companies with financial, business and regulatory matters, supported by a dedicated tax planning group. In 2010, it continued to undertake mandates at the intersection of FCC requirement and bankruptcy rules, notably representing Tribune Company in relation to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, advising on ownership issues and working to obtain the FCC approvals necessary for the reorganized company to emerge from bankruptcy while retaining its existing newspaper-broadcast combinations and television duopolies. John Feore and John Logan have significant involvement in complex ownership issues. Anne Swanson is recommended as ‘incredibly responsive, diligent, hard-working and a great writer’. Kevin Latek is commended for his ‘exceptional knowledge of carriage issues’, and David Wittenstein for his ‘knowledge and experience in intellectual property and new media’. Trademarks expert Mitch Stabbe and Christina Burrow, who has a ‘good knowledge of the practical application of political rules’, are singled out for praise. In 2011, the team was further strengthened by FCC veteran Michael Pryor from Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. in Washington DC. Other key clients include Cox Communications, Comcast, Allbritton Communications, McGraw-Hill Broadcasting, Local TV, TiVo and Ion Media Networks.

Within Telecoms and broadcast: transactional, Dow Lohnes PLLC is a second tier firm,

Dow Lohnes PLLC remains the only domestic firm to provide genuine competition to the international giants in this sector and is commended for ‘dedication beyond that which any big firm can provide’. The ‘excellent’ 22-lawyer team in Washington DC combines regulatory and transactional expertise and is representing a group of television broadcasters, which collectively own over 400 stations, in the formation and operation of the Mobile 500 Alliance, a consortium committed to accelerating the nationwide availability of the Mobile DTV service, which enables consumers to watch live television on their laptops, smart phones and other mobile devices, as well as out-of-home platforms such as billboards and vehicles. Lawyers ‘call back quickly, are attentive and most importantly understand our business and are hooked into our industry’. The firm routinely assists leading media and broadcast companies and major investors in communications with high-profile, high-value transactions and complex ownership issues. Transactional highlights included assisting Cox Enterprises with the sale of the publishing operations of News-Journal Corporation and Volusia Pennysaver, to Halifax Media Acquisition; representing Discover Media in connection with its sale to Kalmbach Publishing Company; assisting Local TV, a portfolio company of Oak Hill Capital Partners, with its acquisition of WGNT (TV) from CBS Television and acting for Ion Media Networks in connection with its acquisition of WQEX (TV) from WQED Multimedia. The team regularly represents 12 television station groups owning and operating over 275 stations across dozens of diverse television markets across the US. Practice group head Michael Basile combines regulatory skills with expertise in complex mergers, acquisitions and financing transactions for broadcast companies. Managing partner John Byrnes acts for cable, television and radio broadcast, newspaper and other telecommunications industry clients in corporate and financing matters.