Robert E. Freeman

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New York +1.212.969.3170

Robert E. Freeman is a partner in the Corporate Department, co-head of the Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group and a member of the Sports Law Group. A nationally recognized media and sports attorney, Rob has been named an “Elite Dealmaker” by Variety, a “Top Lawyer” by Cablefax, and, most recently, one of the entertainment world’s “Power Lawyers” by The Hollywood Reporter.

Rob began his career as an antitrust and intellectual property litigator before transitioning to a corporate transactional attorney. For almost three decades, Rob has helped to structure and negotiate the transactions that shape the way consumers access and view content. As the co-head of Proskauer’s TMT group, Rob leads a team of attorneys focused on media, sports, entertainment and technology, representing clients such as Warner Bros. Discovery, Cox Communications, AMC Networks, The Big Ten Conference, The Big 12 Conference, TMRW Sports, ForgeLight, Minute Media, Ziff Davis, Hearst, Crown Media, Seminole Hard Rock Digital, FanDuel, and NFL Media, among many others. Rob’s work for these clients includes a broad array of corporate transactions ranging from the negotiation of complex media and sports rights and content distribution agreements, including over both traditional (e.g., cable, satellite, telco) and digital (e.g., Internet, wireless) platforms, to the creation of joint ventures, strategic alliances and complex commercial licensing arrangements, and industry-specific mergers and acquisitions (including carve-out transactions). Most recently, Rob also has advised multiple clients on first-of-their-kind transactions related to sports betting. In addition, as recognized by Chambers USA, Rob has extensive experience in sports and arts-related sponsorship, naming rights, licensing, endorsement and talent-related agreements.

Recent examples of Rob’s work include representing The Big Ten Conference and The Big 12 Conference in the negotiation of their media rights deals, TMRW Sports in the launch of the TGL, including team sales, a media rights deal with ESPN and naming rights deal with SoFi, ForgeLight LLC in its acquisition of a majority stake in Univision Holdings, Inc, the leading Hispanic media company in the U.S.; Discovery in its $2 billion+ contractual joint venture with the PGA Tour to form “GOLFTV” and subsequent acquisitions of Golf Digest and Golf Channel Latin America; Cox Communications in the negotiation of the largest content acquisition deal in Cox’s history with The Walt Disney Company, which included all of Disney’s cable networks, ABC’s broadcast stations, and the ESPN family of programming services; and The Stars Group in its groundbreaking partnership with FOX Sports, which included the launch of sports betting platform FOX Bet and an equity investment by FOX of over $240 million in The Stars Group.

Rob is consistently cited in Chambers USA and The Legal 500 US as a recommended lawyer for Media & Entertainment and Technology & Telecoms. He has been recognized in each of the last three years as one of Variety’s New York Elite Dealmakers, which honors East Coast power players for their work in the media and entertainment industries. He was honored on Variety’s “Dealmakers List” in 2019, 2020 and 2022, recognizing the executives behind the biggest deals in media and entertainment. Rob also was named a 2018 and 2019 Top Lawyer by Cablefax, which recognizes “the legal titans of cable, broadband, broadcast TV, wireless and internet” and has been on The Hollywood Reporter’s Power Lawyers list, which honors the top 100 entertainment lawyers in the U.S., since 2018. Rob was also listed in New York Super Lawyers 2020-2022 and Best Lawyers: Best Lawyers in America 2020-2024.

Rob is a frequent lecturer on sports, media, intellectual property, licensing, emerging technology, digital rights and sponsorship issues and is the editor of Proskauer’s “Three Point Shot” sports e-newsletter. He is a longtime member of the Board of Directors of the T. Howard Foundation, whose mission is to increase diversity in the media and entertainment industries. Rob has also chaired the Golf Committee for the March of Dimes’ annual golf outing in the NYC area.

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Some recent examples of Rob’s work include:

Negotiation of a joint venture involving Warner Bros. Discovery, ESPN, and FOX involving the development and launch of a sports focused virtual MVPD platform
Representation of major media company in its acquisition of a video game company
Representation of some of the largest programmers and distributors in the U.S. with respect to all manner of programming distribution arrangements, including both traditional MVPD distribution and new media platform distribution (e.g., FAST channel, OTT, wireless and “app-based”)
Representation of a major international media company in its acquisition of a U.S.-based sports management company
Structuring and negotiation of major sports media rights and naming rights agreements
Representation of multiple emerging sports leagues, including league structuring, team sales, governance, media rights, and sponsorships
Counseling relating to the launch of a new regional sports network

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Edited by Robert E. Freeman