Christoph Wagner

Deutsche Version

Dr. Christoph Wagner is a partner in the Berlin office and Co-Chair of the firm’s global media group.

Dr. Wagner is a leading TMT, M&A and regulatory lawyer, with a particular focus on transactions and on strategic regulatory advice in the media and communications industries. He handled prominent media transactions, such as Axel Springer’s acquisition of the leading German News Channel N24, News Corp’s/21st Century Fox’ acquisition, restructuring and sale of Premiere/Sky Deutschland, Haim Saban’s acquisition and sale of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, and the acquisition of Champions League and Bundesliga soccer rights packages. He advised on visible telecom and cable transactions, including the 3G and 4G license auctions, and the sale of Unitymedia and various acquisitions by Tele Columbus.

Dr. Wagner is consistently recognized by Chambers and Legal 500 as a leading individual. Chambers Europe 2016 recognized him as a leading individual for Corporate/ M&A, and Chambers Global 2016 for Corporate/ M&A and recommends him for TMT. Best Lawyers named him five times in series Lawyer of the Year (M&A, 2012; Telecommunications, 2013; Media, 2014/2015; Regulatory Practice, 2015; and Media, 2016/2017). Chambers referred to Dr. Wagner as “the person who first comes to mind if one thinks about media deals in Germany.” JUVE Handbook 2015/2016 recommended Dr. Wagner in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications section and referred to him as “the highly regarded partner Dr. Christoph Wagner”, “visible focus of the TMT-team”, and “stands for the media practice like no other”. Legal 500 Deutschland 2016 recognized him as a leading individual for Media – Entertainment.

Prior to practicing as an attorney, Dr. Wagner worked for the Berlin Media Authority, the European Commission and the European Parliament. From 2003 to 2007, he was alternate member of the German Media Ownership Commission (KEK). Since 2009 he lectures European Media Law at the University of Potsdam. He has authored numerous essays and articles on topics relevant to the industries such as net neutrality, digitization and cable consolidation.

Representative Matters

• Advice to 21st Century Fox on the sale of its stake in Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia to BSkyB - one of the most prominent media transaction in Europe in 2014, and in a joint venture with National Geographic.
• Advice to Viacom on TV and video ad sales marketing joint venture with Axel Springer.
• Advice to Axel Springer SE, the leading German publishing company, on the acquisition of N24 Media GmbH, Germany’s largest independent news-TV channel – the most prominent media transaction in Germany in 2013.
• Representation of Mediakraft Networks, Europe’s leading top online TV channel network, in several financing rounds.
• Representation in a number of large media and telecom transactions, including Haim Saban’s acquisition of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, News Corp’s acquisition and re-financing of Premiere AG/Sky Deutschland; News Corp’s acquisition of the TV stations Vox and Tm3, as well as the TV rights to the UEFA Champions League; Studio Canal’s acquisition of Kinowelt and Tandem, the privatization of the Babelsberg Film Studios; NBCU’s disposition of TV channel “Das Vierte” and the subsequent sale to Disney.
• Advice to Telefonica in the 3G spectrum auction and the acquisition of a license for 16bn DM; advice on the merger of Telefonica and Eplus; the acquisition of Versatel and a stake in Mobilcom; advice on several large cable transactions, including Tele Columbus’ acquisition of the competitors Primacom and pepcom and on pre-IPO, the disposal of the cable networks by Deutsche Telekom, the sale of Unity Media to LGI, the sale of Tele Columbus to Kabel Deutschland etc.