Media

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CMS is renowned for its outstanding full-service media practice with an exceptional team of media lawyers advising on the full breadth of work across the sector including content production and financing, broadcast and distribution, music, publishing, theatre, sports rights and media regulation. Our deep sector knowledge ensures that we can focus on the issues that matter most to you, leveraging over four decades worth of experience advising clients across the sector. 

Our lawyers have been at the forefront of the development of the sector, advising on the opportunities and challenges that have arisen as a result of the continued development and convergence of media, technology and telecoms and the associated changes in the production and delivery of content and consumer interaction. Moreover, our expert team are perfectly placed to advise you on the latest regulatory developments and how the ever-evolving regulatory regime affects your business, allowing you to maximise your commercial opportunities and protect your position in a crowded market. Some of our recent focus areas have included the UK’s New Media Bill, the subscription economy and new consumer legislation.   

Our reputation for delivery and excellence is well deserved, as recognised by our Tier 1 ranking for Media and Entertainment in Legal 500 UK 2023. A number of our team are included in the Legal 500 hall of fame, and others as Legal 500 leading individuals. 


We offer the breadth and depth of expertise across media in the UK and across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and beyond. Recent work includes:

  • The BBC and BBC Studios on a series of major transactions and strategic partnerships over the last 25 years. These have included the establishment of UKTV and BBC Studios’ subsequent buyout of Discovery from the venture, the sale of a 49.9% interest in BBC America to AMC, various significant transactions with Discovery and the creation of the BritBox SVOD service with ITV, as well as implementing digital switchover (the UK’s most significant broadcast engineering project). 
  • BT on its agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery to form a 50:50 joint venture to create a new premium sports offering for the UK and Ireland. This complicated transaction also involved the transfer of BT Sport’s existing business as well as securing BT’s rights to continue to distribute the JV services, as well as WBD’s other services, to its retail base. A large multi-disciplinary CMS team advised across all aspects including corporate, media, technology, anti-trust and regulatory, finance and specialist IP. 
  • Comcast Corporation on its GBP 30bn bid for Sky plc – the biggest takeover ever seen in Europe’s media industry. A team across multiple CMS territories advised on the specialist media, telecoms and gambling regulatory aspects of the deal. CMS teams in Albania and Ukraine also advised on anti-trust aspects. 
  • SkyShowtime on the key building blocks for the streaming service from Sky and Paramount. These include the film and TV output deals with NBCUniversal and Paramount, as well as the media regulatory, data privacy and consumer aspects of the service across its 22 European markets. 
  • ITV on its strategic deal to exclusively license an adtech platform from Amobee for the purchase and sale of targeted premium video inventory, as well as a series of investments in and acquisitions of content production businesses and investments from its media for equity fund. 
  • Viacom / Channel 5 on the acquisition of UK broadcaster Channel 5, the outsourcing of the Channel 5 advertising sales function to Sky Media and the carriage deals for all Viacom UK pay channels. This deal was the first acquisition by a US entity of a UK public service broadcaster. The team has advised Viacom since it first launched MTV Europe in the late 1980s. 

View our UK Media Team

 

What our clients say

"The lawyers at CMS are very good at giving really clear, crisp advice, without layers of legalese"

Chambers, 2022

"They are very much about getting things done and have an extremely can-do attitude"

Chambers, 2022

"Responsive, fast and always gives commercially sensible advice."

Chambers, 2022

"They know the issues so well and they're comfortable giving a view."

Chambers, 2022

"Diverse experience and subject matter expertise across a range of areas"

Legal 500, 2021-2022

"CMS’ ability to turn work around quickly is phenomenal, with no compromise to the quality of the output. The depth and wealth of experience is impressive."

Legal 500, 2021-2022

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Broadcast and Streaming
CMS has a market-leading practice in broadcasting and streaming. We have advised on some of the leading deals in this area. Our team are experts in ca
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Content Production and Financing
CMS’s production finance team has considerable experience acting for a wide range of producers, financiers and distributors in this space. We un
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Media Regulation
CMS is at the forefront of developments in the media regulatory space. Our team can be seen regularly at industry events speaking on new developments
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Music
CMS provides contractual, regulatory and copyright law advice connected to both transactions and disputes to clients across the music sector. We have
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Publishing
Our Publishing team advises clients operating both in the digital market and traditional print sectors; combining areas of expertise such as corporate
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Sports Rights
We have market leading expertise in every aspect of sports rights, including distribution and broadcast rights deals which has seen us act for some of
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Theatre
Our experienced team advises a range of stakeholders in the commercial theatre industry, including on rights acquisition, venue hire, international to
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Esports & Games
Our lawyers are at the forefront of the Esports and Games revolution. Esports and Games sit at the intersection of many of our core areas of expe
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Gambling Commission Consultation: Financial Penalties and Financial Key...
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29/01/2024
Gambling White Paper Consultations: Consumer-led tools
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Gambling White Paper: Socially responsible incentives
On the 29 November 2023, the Gambling Commission (“GC”) released its second set of consultations on the Gambling White Paper which covers five key areas:Socially responsible in­cent­ivesCus­tomer-led...
24/01/2024
Upheld – ASA Ruling on Buzz Group LTD
In the latest example of the new strong appeal rules in action, on 3 January 2024 the ASA issued a ruling which was upheld concerning a post on Buzz Group Ltd’s (“Buzz Group”) Facebook page (the...
24/01/2024
Esports Winter, Player Salary Caps and Online Toxicity: Unpacking ESI London...
CMS was one of a few law firms learning more about the ever-developing esports and gaming industry at the ESI London 2023 conference. CMS attendees Andrew Wilson, Chloe Day and Sarojah Sathivelu were...
16/01/2024
CMS advises Box to Box Films on investment by Bruin Capital
International law firm CMS has advised Box to Box Films (Box to Box) on a minority investment by Bruin Capital, the industry-leading growth investment and buyout specialist in global sports. Founded by...
22/12/2023
High Court dismisses summary judgment application in Getty Images v Stability...
The High Court has recently handed down judgment on Stability AI’s application for reverse summary judgment and strike out in the high-profile Getty Images v Stability AI litigation. Earlier this year...
21/12/2023
Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment 2023
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