Victoria Gaskell

Practice Areas

Victoria is a partner in the commercial media team with over 20 years' experience and co-heads the media practice. She focusses on commercial, regulatory and transactional work for the content and digital media industries and her clients include production companies, distributors, platforms and channels as well as brands and advertisers. Victoria also acts for talent and advises on brand exploitation, joint ventures and publishing deals as well as on media sector M&A alongside the corporate media team.

Victoria also advises sports clients including top flight football clubs on broadcast and rights related issues and transactions.

She has spent time on secondment with ITV Network's programme commissioning team and at NBC Universal in the role of SVP Business and Legal Affairs International TV Production.

Victoria is recognised as a Leading Individual in Legal 500 and is ranked in Chambers & Partners for Film and Television. She speaks regularly at conferences on issues affecting the content industries and also sits on the board of industry body Women in Film and Television.

Work Highlights

Comcast on the media regulatory aspects of its $30bn acquisition of Sky Plc.

Annabel Jones and Charlie Brooker, the creators of Black Mirror, on setting up production entity Broke and Bones and the subsequent investment by Netflix.

All3Media on its acquisition of leading natural history producer Silverback Films.

M&C Saatchi on advertising production and talent agreements for multiple campaigns.

Elisabeth Murdoch and related entities on establishing content production business, Sister and its investment in South of the River Pictures.

Viacom / Channel 5 on its channel carriage negotiations for the MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central channels on Sky’s satellite and broadband platforms. Victoria has also advised Viacom on re-shuffling of the channels in the Sky EPG as well as joint venture arrangements.

Various broadcaster clients on the media regulatory implications of Brexit.

A major OTT player on the international roll out of its service.

Cameron Mackintosh on the international licensing of its well known musicals.

A leading pharmaceutical business on its global re-procurement of creative advertising services.

NBCUniversal on its international co-production deal with TF1 and RTL and its joint venture with Harry Potter producer, David Heyman.

VR production company Factory42 on various commercial matters.

BBC Worldwide on its long-term creative partnership with AMC Networks under which AMC Networks invested $200m to acquire a 49.9% equity stake in cable channel BBC AMERICA.

Viacom on the commercial and regulatory aspects of its acquisition of Channel 5, a game changing deal in the UK television sector.

BBCW Worldwide on the sale of its magazines division to Exponent Private Equity and on its partnership with Getty for a global online clip sales portal.

21st Century Fox on its joint venture with Apollo merging global television production groups Endemol and Shine.

Arts Alliance Media on its EU wide roll out of digital cinema projection systems including negotiating its virtual print fee deals with Hollywood studios (the first of their kind at the time).

Education