Sabrina Silverberg is Counsel in Hughes Hubbard & Reed’s Corporate and Mergers & Acquisitions practice group and Chair of the Firm’s Media & Entertainment practice group. She has extensive experience with first impression deals and matters in areas of complex rights and emerging technology, including advising on matters involving artificial intelligence. Sabrina’s experience spans the full spectrum of the media and entertainment industries, including: video games, esports, film, television, music, theater / immersive entertainment, digital video, podcasting, radio, publishing, advertising, marketing, data, sports, and others.
In addition to advising a wide variety of clients on complex technology transactions, Sabrina also represents clients – including publicly-traded companies – in the media and entertainment industry on corporate and commercial matters, including strategic partnerships and cross-border transactions; content development, production, acquisition and distribution; talent and endorsement deals; brand licensing; marketing and sponsorship relationships and advertising and marketing compliance; music rights strategy; and intellectual property, corporate governance, data privacy and labor and employment issues.
Since joining Hughes Hubbard in early 2023, Sabrina has advised on significant deals related to esports, cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, and other cutting-edge aspects of media, entertainment and technology, representing industry leaders such as The Madison Square Garden Company, Advance Publications, Inc., AMC Networks and Gemini Trust Company.
Prior to joining Hughes Hubbard, Sabrina was global Deputy General Counsel at Condé Nast, where she helped build Condé Nast’s first globally integrated Legal & Policy department. Prior to that, Sabrina built up a notable technology startup’s legal functions, including data protection and other compliance programs. Sabrina has also headed the business affairs function for a leading, publicly-traded publisher of interactive entertainment.
Sabrina began her career at Weil, Gotshal & Manges as an Associate in the Trade Practices & Regulatory Law Department, specializing in intellectual property and First Amendment litigation. She later worked at NBC and at MTV Networks (now Paramount Media Networks), where she served in a variety of different roles, including as Executive Vice President, MTVN Music Strategy & Relations and as General Counsel & Senior Vice President, Business Affairs for VH1 and CMT.
Over the course of her career, Sabrina has also served as General Counsel of Heed, LLC, a start-up social Internet of Things platform whose shareholders included Endeavor, SoftBank and AGT International, and as Senior Vice President, Head of Business Affairs & Associate General Counsel for Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., a publicly traded interactive entertainment company.
Sabrina serves on the Board for Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, a legal aid and education organization dedicated to protecting New York’s artists and its arts and cultural organizations by providing access to free or low-fee legal services. She received her J.D. from New York University Law School and her B.A. in Political Science from Hunter College.
Experience
Provide strategic advice on legal matters relating to media, entertainment, technology, licensing, digital products, platforms and services, advertising revenue, consumer revenue, procurement, events, advertising and marketing compliance and policies, data privacy compliance, and compliance with consumer protection statutes and regulations.
Provide strategic advice regarding complex technology transactions, including transactions relating to artificial intelligence.
Devise deal terms / parameters, playbooks and policies related to the development, production, distribution and acquisition of domestic and international film, television, digital video and podcast content.
Provide strategic advice regarding talent agreements, literary option and purchase agreements, life rights agreements, development agreements, attachment/collaboration agreements, financing agreements, producer agreements, writer agreements, co-production agreements and production services agreements.
Provide strategic advice related to intellectual property strategy and protection.
Highlighted Matters
Representation of AMC Networks Inc. in connection with the purchase of BBC Studios’ equity in BBC America
Representation of MSG Sports in connection with the combination of Counter Logic Gaming, of which MSG Sports previously owned a controlling interest, with NRG, a professional gaming and entertainment company. As a result of the transaction, MSG Sports now owns a noncontrolling equity interest in the larger, combined NRG/CLG company
Representation of The Madison Square Garden Company and TAO Group Hospitality in the sale of TAO Group Hospitality to global investment company Mohari Hospitality
Representation of media company Advance Publications Inc. and its portfolio company 1010data, a leading provider of enterprise analytics, in the sale of 1010data to SymphonyAI
Representing a major entertainment company in developing its standard approach to, and forms of, AI vendor and partner agreements
Representation of Hyve Group, an international organizer of exhibitions and conferences, in connection with its acquisition of healthcare event company HLTH
Representation of Gemini Trust Company in connection with bankruptcies resulting from 2022 “crypto winter” to position itself as a top crypto exchange
Representation of Indian hotel OYO on its acquisition of G6 Hospitality, the parent company of U.S. hospitality brand Motel 6
Representation of Cyclerion Therapeutics, Inc. in the sale of the rights to two drugs to a company newly-formed by certain existing Cyclerion shareholders and venture capital firms in exchange for cash and shares of stock in the new company
Representation of Wipro on its $40 million acquisition of U.S.-based IT services consulting firm Applied Value Technologies
Representation of Geller & Company on the sale of its multi-family office business to Corient, one of the fastest-growing national wealth advisors in the U.S.
