Vice President, Business Affairs (Legal)

Vice President, Business Affairs

Overview

Hearst Media Production Group (HMPG) is seeking a VP, Business Affairs to join our team. This position will primarily focus on compliance with FCC-mandated rules for Educational/Informational (E/I) television production and distribution and oversight of rights, clearances, and general production documentation in addition to business issues surrounding HMPG's General Market entertainment and news and information programming.  Works with management to maintain HMPG brand integrity of all current series and handles day-to-day business affairs for development and production. The VP, Business Affairs will also strategize with management and outside counsel on business and intellectual property related issues, and draft, review and execute various short-form business and production documents. As such, a legal background and/or related experience in the media and/or entertainment industry is required. 

The position reports to the EVP, General Manager (E/I) and also engages with the EVP, General Manager (Entertainment) and Chief Financial Officer and President of HMPG.

The position is on-site five (5) days at our Hearst offices located in Charlotte, NC. 

Responsibilities

• Work with management, post-production, regulatory counsel, and network teams to ensure content compliance with FCC Educational/Informational rules for linear broadcast and FTC, COPPA, and state-level privacy rules for digital platforms.
• Manage a staff of four in the below categories. 
• Oversee and support Standards and Practices team responsible for content review, with an emphasis on compliance with E/I regulations, legal clearance, and appropriate execution of branded content.
• Coordinate network communications and oversee team responsible for scheduling, formatting, and fulfilment of physical and paper deliverables for multiple weekly network TV series including titles and descriptions, music cue sheets, translations, audio description, and quarterly FCC-filings.
• Oversee rights management efforts, including terms, rights, participations, holdbacks, territories, etc. as well as copyright registration with the US Copyright Office.
• Work with sales, production, post, and network partners to ensure HMPG brand integrity and industry standards.
• Review, negotiate, and draft short-form business, production, and vendor documents including location, third-party acquired materials, and appearance releases, production services agreements, permits, letters of intent, NDAs, etc. in coordination with the production management team, rights & clearances team, and in-house and external counsel.
• Engage in logistics and issues surrounding program sponsorships, schedules, content and contractual obligations.
• Work with management to cultivate relationships with network, production, and distribution partners.
• Collaborate with internal and external counsel when necessary.

Experience

• Minimum of 10 years of experience working in television business affairs department, legal affairs department and/or entertainment law firm.

Qualifications

• Familiarity with FCC, FTC, and COPPA (and related online privacy) regulations.
• Familiarity with copyright and trademark laws and regulations, with particular understanding of the elements and analysis of nominative use of trademark.
• Previous experience in performing legal and/or clearance review of episodic or long form audio/visual content.
• Skilled at maintaining positive relationships with showrunners and sales executives while enforcing standards and regulatory decisions.
• Ability to make judgement calls on sensitive topics, removing personal opinions from decision-making process.
• Proven ability to manage a high volume of projects with competing deadlines.
• Excellent organization and time management skills.
• Superior written and oral communication skills.
• Detail-oriented with strong analytical capabilities and judgement.
• Familiarity with music rights and cue sheets, production insurance, and union issues a plus.
• Working knowledge of project management software, preferably Monday.com.
• Experience with market-leading enterprise rights management systems.

Education

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Business, Media, or other related field required.
• Law degree (J.D. or LLM) required.
• Military training from Defense Information School (DINFOS) with related experience will be considered.

Diversity Statement

At Hearst Television we tell stories every day. Stories about people of all cultures, backgrounds, perspectives, and identities. That's why, behind the scenes, we believe in being an organization as diverse and varied as the audience we reach, ensuring that the content we create is more compassionate, and more representative of the communities we serve.

Benefits

Hearst Television's benefit programs are modern, flexible and designed to focus on you. As a Hearst Television employee, you and your spouse or partner or dependents would have access to the following benefits.

• Medical | Dental | Vision
• 401(k) matching
• Emotional Wellness Support
• Paid Time Off
• Paid Parental Leave
• LGBTQ+ Health Services
• Additional benefits to meet your and your family's needs

About Hearst Media Production Group 

Hearst Media Production Group (HMPG), a business unit of Hearst Television, is an independent producer and distributor of original programming for TV stations, broadcast and cable networks and streaming services. HMPG produces hundreds of hours of programming annually across linear, streaming, digital and social media platforms for domestic and international distribution in nearly 100 countries.  Its popular shows include the Emmy® Award-winning educational/informational (E/I) programming blocks airing weekends nationwide including “Weekend Adventure,” on ABC stations; “CBS WKND,” on the CBS Network; “The More You Know,” on the NBC Network; “One Magnificent Morning,” on the CW Network; “Mi Telemundo” on the Telemundo Network and “Go Time” on independent stations. HMPG also produces and/or distributes a diverse slate of other programming and content including Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien, America's #1 nationally syndicated public affairs news magazine; Consumer Reports TV, and the company's dedicated FAST channels Xplore, The Jack Hanna Channel and Rovr Pets, available on some of the most popular smart TVs and streaming platforms.   HMPG has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Charlotte.  HMPG is represented by United Talent Agency.