Focus on… The role of the general counsel in the media industry

The role of the general counsel in each organisation is a key and essential axis for maximising the company’s functioning on the financial and business levels. The general counsel is involved in every project and every day at every level of the company’s business activities. In addition to the legal counsel, the general counsel has a business contribution — because any transaction or problem that arises in the course of the current business is usually brought to the general’s counsel opinion and approval so that the general counsel also minimises the legal risks of a company from future claims and promotes the company to execute transactions that contribute to the company’s leverage. The general counsel’s role in examining the transactions is they must first examine the business need of the company in the transaction and then the goals of the transaction by drawing the boundaries of the transaction’s scope; after the goal is understood, the general counsel checks the legal feasibility of the transaction by reviewing laws and rules. In the media industry, the regulation is extensive and detailed, and there is an answer to every legal problem. In addition, the laws and regulations are fitting to the renewed reality and the development of technology so that the innovation in the law allows the attorney to tailor the legal solution for the right size of a business.

The international area is increasingly important in the work of the general counsel, which impacts the company. The media industry already understands that the measure of success includes expanding abroad. One reason is for finance which invests in productions and content, there are private investors and various investment funds located abroad, and a legal dialogue must exist between the legal counsel and the legal departments of those investors to have good and fruitful deals for both parties, both for an investor who receives an excellent product that will generate profits in the future and for the company to create the excellent product with the appropriate financing. The second reason is distributing content abroad; Israel has become a powerful country of interesting content that is breaking the borders of the country, many Israeli television series are sold abroad, and there are unlimited possibilities, here the role of the general counsel is critical to the relationship between the company and overseas broadcasters to close distribution deals that serve both parties.