Senior Manager, Global Rights and Licensing

Job Description

Work Locations: With the exception of some select roles that have in-office requirements, A+E Networks operates on a flexible model that allows for remote, hybrid or full time in office work (in certain locales).
Office locations include New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Stamford, CT.
Our list of eligible states in which employees may work remotely includes: California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Division Story
Our global Legal and Business Affairs department believes in the promise and power of teamwork. When we work together as a cohesive unit – supporting, involving, appreciating and respecting each other – we can elevate our company, our clients, and ourselves. At A+E Networks, we have built and developed a culture based on the principles of effective communication, collaboration, accountability and trust. These guiding principles serve as our north star as we partner and strategize with other departments across the Company to help A+E Networks achieve its goals and stay at the forefront of a highly competitive, rapidly changing industry. If you share these values and want to learn more about who we are and what we do, consider joining our team.

Job Description

The Senior Manager, Global Rights & Licensing manages the licensing and acquisition of third party owned rights for A+E programming content by negotiating favorable fees and license terms for music, films, photos, talent and other IP with a strong emphasis on music synch & master clearances.

The Senior Manager will additionally work with the Director providing guidance and devising strategy to internal producers and business groups on various complex music clearance issues related to new and archival programming. The Senior Manager will work with the Director to formulate a licensing strategy to benefit the brands by securing clearances across a variety of multi-media platforms.

Another focus of this role is in handling the most complex of music licensing deals, including negotiation of options packages and having full understanding of all music licensing issues. This position's focus will be to negotiate fees, draft license agreements and finalize all deals for both new programming and renewal of expired programming to ensure that content is available for new business/sales opportunities and programming initiatives.

This role will work closely with Production teams (internal and external), Programming, Marketing, Content Sales, International, Digital, Legal and Finance, proposing budgets and clearances time allocation estimates. The Senior Manager will work independently to analyze legal agreements for licensed third-party materials and interpret the contracts under the current Rights landscape and assist with training and advising various business on copyright and clearances current landscapes. This role will also have supervisory responsibilities for additional staffing or temporary freelance positions related to licensing.

This role will have supervisory responsibilities of staff or non-staff personnel on licensing projects.

This position will also perform budgeting responsibilities of detailed renewal cost breakdowns and oversee the full lifecycle of the Rights Renewals process. These actions require strong organizational and follow-through skills as well the ability to make risk assessments related to clearance status. This role will be required to renew a large volume of content and will ensure content needs are met for many platforms including the on-air linear feed, multiplatform, digital SVOD platforms, FAST, and for off-net distribution with both Domestic and International sales partners.

MORE ABOUT WHAT YOU'LL DO:
• Negotiate favorable rates/terms and acquire rights from the copyright owners of film, photographs, music, record labels, music publishers, books, magazines, and more, with a strong emphasis on all facets of music clearances. Advising internal clients on music cost estimates and clearance needs.
• Supervise staff or non-staff members in licensing workload.
• Draft and review agreements to conform with Network's required terms and standards.
• Identify and analyze risks associated with rights and licensed materials and re-use parameters; analyze potential public domain, fair use status.
• Research copyright and trademark information for owners of footage, music, photos, etc. and prepares clearance requests.
• Analyze rights of publicity issues and advise businesses and Director accordingly.
• Analyze expired/rights deficient licenses across all brands and calculate renewal estimates based on initial rights granted and future exploitation potential.
• Create licensing templates and training materials specifically for music rights, clearances and requests for production staff.
• Provide forecasting and cost analysis for expired/expiring programs and manage budget accordingly
• Track Rights Renewals and Rights Upgrades on an individual program basis and advise various business units (Programming, Scheduling, International, Content Sales and Digital) regarding content clearance status, costs, and risk assessment.
• Negotiate music sync and master recording licensing fees for marketing efforts; must have solid knowledge and experience with researching, negotiating and licensing publishing splits.
• Maintain program inventory with a focus geared towards emerging platforms (AVOD, FVOD, SVOD).
• Re-assess program rights availabilities for library content as new technologies come into play
• Support Director in day-to-day business including legal research, rights availability queries and music and media clearance requests.
• Present to and meet with various business units on an ad-hoc basis, as new business opportunities arise, and Rights and Renewals education is required.
• Utilize Rights Management systems to ensure Rights information is entered in a timely fashion and populating correctly into various Rights Availability Reports and Sales databases.
• Facilitate clearance requests for a variety of new productions and clearance projects including long and short form programming for linear and digital platforms, promos, in house productions, and more.

YOUR STORY: [+BEHAVIORS] (what you need to have)
• 12+ years' required experience actively negotiating and acquiring rights of third Party owned material for a television, media or music company; negotiation experience required.
• Existing strong relationships and connections in the third-party content business is a must – film companies, especially music publishers & record labels, stock houses, footage agencies, news agencies, studios, etc. – with a firm grasp of licensing standards and associated fees.
• Detail oriented and the ability to handle a large volume of work and to perform daily duties autonomously and efficiently.
• This role is service and client facing, requiring high touch communications. Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills are required to be successful in this role.
• A deep understanding of complex Rights grants and how they impact overall program exploitation ability on a global, worldwide landscape.
• Strong negotiation skills with an ability to utilize pre-existing relationships in the third-party licensi

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Jobcode: Reference SBJ-g6jk8j-3-138-178-107-42 in your application.