Harbottle & Lewis advise Mat Steiner and Adam Wood on Gogglebox Entertainment start-up

Media and entertainment lawyers, Harbottle & Lewis, have advised Mat Steiner and Adam Wood, both formerly of Lion Television, in relation to the establishment of a new television production company, Gogglebox Entertainment Limited. The deal creates a new indie which will develop and produce primarily non-scripted entertainment programmes.

Harbottle & Lewis advised on all legal aspects of the transaction, including the terms of the investment and the related financial arrangements. Colin Howes, Head of the Company and Commercial Group, led the corporate transaction, assisted by Tariq Qureshi in relation to the corporate and financing documentation, David Scott in relation to tax and Amal Phillips in relation to the employment aspects of the arrangements. Medwyn Jones advised on Gogglebox's distribution agreements.

Colin Howes commented: "The transaction was structured to provide the company with a strong basis for investment, impeccable credentials as an indie and excellent management. We are always pleased to act for such promising clients, but especially so on deals such as this which require a degree of creativity and sophistication with regard to the financing and structuring."

Mat Steiner commented: "Adam and I were very grateful to Colin and his colleagues at Harbottle not only for their one-stop-shop expertise, but for their innovative and pragmatic approach to what was an unexpectedly complex deal."

Sony Pictures Television International recently invested in Gogglebox Entertainment.

[Ends]
29/04/08
Notes for editors
Harbottle & Lewis LLP
Harbottle & Lewis provides specialist advice to the media and entertainment industries. It is consistently recognised as a leading firm in these areas by independent sources.

Firm overview: The firm's work encompasses all areas of media and entertainment, including film, television, broadcasting, sport, music, publishing, advertising fashion and theatre and remains unique in having expertise right across these sectors.

We provide a complete range of commercial advice to our clients, including: buying and selling businesses and companies, joint ventures, finance, capital markets, commercial disputes, property, employment, immigration and tax. Other specialist legal areas include, sponsorship, intellectual property, legal issues relating to media, including defamation, advertising, brand protection, data protection, privacy, art and gaming and gambling as well as private client and matrimonial work. The firm's expertise in other areas such as aviation and charities is also widely recognised.

Much of our work involves the technology, new media and telecoms industries and we have done ground-breaking work in connection with the digital exploitation of content and e-commerce generally. Specialist knowledge and understanding of the entertainment industry and related IP issues enables the firm to identify and deal with the key issues at an early stage, and then negotiate and provide commercially sound legal advice from a position of strength.

Recent work:
In the last year we have advised on a number of significant corporate and commercial deals in the media and entertainment sector including:

75% sale of Raymond Gubbay Ltd to Deutsche Entertainment AG
Virgin Holidays acquisition of Fast Track Holidays
Acquisition of Objective Productions by All3Media
Acquisitions of Minotaur International and Greenlit Rights by Target Entertainment
Joint venture agreement between Channel 4 and Emap plc
Acquisition of Prospect Pictures, September Films and West Park Pictures by DCD Media
Virgin Active acquisition of Holmes Place
Financing and acquisitions of development houses by SCi/Eidos and Take 2
Sale of 90 per cent of Virgin Books by Random House

Issued by
Caroline Renton
Head of Marketing
Direct line: 020 7667 5231
Email: caroline.renton@harbottle.com