David Goodfriend

Last updated
David Goodfriend
Education Beloit College
Georgetown University Law Center
Occupation(s)Attorney, executive

David Goodfriend (born 1968) is an American attorney, political figure, and media commentator. He notably served as deputy White House staff secretary to President Bill Clinton and as a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) advisor. A former telecommunications lawyer Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Goodfriend has remained active in the telecommunications field after leaving government, having joined satellite service company EchoStar in 2001. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Goodfriend graduated summa cum laude from Beloit College in 1990. [2] He received his Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. [3] After law school, he became a telecoms lawyer at Willkie Farr & Gallagher. [1]

Career

Government career

Goodfriend served as a staffer to Democratic U.S. Representative Charles B. Rangel and Senator Herb Kohl. He went on to serve as deputy White House staff secretary in the Clinton administration. Goodfriend was a legal advisor to Susan Ness, a member of the Federal Communications Commissioner (FCC). [1]

Post-government career

After leaving the FCC, he joined satellite service company EchoStar as the corporation's director of legal and business affairs. According to the The Washington Post , this position allowed him to push for FCC regulations backed by the company, though he was not required to formally register as a lobbyist. [1]

Goodfriend is co-host of "Left Jab" on Sirius-XM Satellite Radio and is a political contributor on MSNBC and CNBC.[ citation needed ] Goodfriend was a co-founder and EVP/General Counsel of Air America Radio, and was Vice President of Law and Public Policy at DISH Network, EchoStar Satellite LLC (DISH Network). Goodfriend is also the founder and chairman of Sports Fans Coalition, a coalition of sports activists, fighting to give sports fans greater voice in public policy impacting professional and collegiate sports. [4]

In 2023, Goodfriend represented the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in their lawsuit against hedge fund Standard General's acquisition of media company Tegna Inc. Other clients of Goodfriend as of 2023 include Weather Channel, Entertainment Studio Networks and Dish Network. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dish Network</span> American television provider

DISH Network Corporation is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. Additionally, Dish offers mobile wireless service, Dish Wireless. On July 1, 2020, Dish acquired prepaid service Boost Mobile and added postpaid service Boost Infinite on December 7, 2022. Based in unincorporated Douglas County, Colorado, the company has approximately 16,000 employees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sky Angel</span> American Christian media company

Sky Angel was a U.S. operator of Christian television networks; it operated three channels, Angel One, Angel Two, and KTV, all of which were exclusive to Dish Network. The company's corporate headquarters were located in Naples, Florida. The company also operated a Chattanooga, Tennessee location where programming, engineering and network operations resided.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SuperDish</span>

The Super Dish is a satellite dish deployed by DISH Network in November 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anik (satellite)</span> Series of Canadian satellites

The Anik satellites are a series of geostationary communications satellites launched for Telesat Canada for television, voice and data in Canada and other parts of the world, from 1972 through 2013. Some of the later satellites in the series remain operational in orbit, while others have been retired to a graveyard orbit. The naming of the satellite was determined by a national contest, and was won by Julie-Frances Czapla of Saint-Léonard, Québec. In Inuktitut, Anik means "little brother".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gigi Sohn</span> American attorney (born 1961)

Gigi Beth Sohn is an American lawyer who is the co-founder of Public Knowledge. She previously worked for the Ford Foundation. In 2013, Tom Wheeler hired her into a senior staff position at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). She left there shortly after Donald Trump's election in 2016. In July 2017, she held fellowship positions with Georgetown Law's Institute for Technology Law & Policy, Open Society Foundations, and Mozilla.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willkie Farr & Gallagher</span> Law firm

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, commonly known as Willkie, is a white-shoe, international law firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1888, the firm specializes in corporate practice and employs approximately 1000 lawyers in 13 offices across six countries.

SkyTerra (SKYT), formerly Mobile Satellite Ventures, was a Reston, Virginia company that developed telecommunications systems that integrate satellite and terrestrial radio communication technologies into one system. In March 2010, the company was acquired by Harbinger Capital Partners and under the leadership of CEO Sanjiv Ahuja became part of a new company called LightSquared. The company placed its first satellite, SkyTerra-1, in orbit on November 14, 2010. LightSquared has since then went bankrupt and emerged from bankruptcy as Ligado Networks.

TerreStar Corporation (TSTR), formerly Motient Corp. and American Mobile Satellite Corp., was the controlling shareholder of TerreStar Networks Inc., TerreStar National Services, Inc. and TerreStar Global Ltd., and a shareholder of SkyTerra Communications.

Multichannel television in the United States has been available since at least 1948. The United States is served by multichannel television through cable television systems, direct-broadcast satellite providers, and various other wireline video providers; among the largest television providers in the U.S. are DirecTV, Altice USA, Charter Communications, Comcast, Dish Network, Verizon Communications, and Cox Communications. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 defines a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) as "a person such as, but not limited to, a cable operator, a multichannel multipoint distribution service, a direct broadcast satellite service, or a television receive-only satellite program distributor, who makes available for purchase, by subscribers or customers, multiple channels of video programming", where a channel is defined as a "signaling path provided by a cable television system."

EchoStar Corporation is an American company, a worldwide provider of satellite communication and Internet services through its Hughes Network Systems and EchoStar Satellite Services business segments. EchoStar is based in unincorporated Arapahoe County, Colorado.

Andrew W. Needham is a prominent American tax lawyer. He is a partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. He joined the law firm as a lateral partner in 2005 from Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Needham was among the Cravath partners who advised Johnson & Johnson in its 2011 purchase of Synthes, Inc. for $21.3 billion, then the largest acquisition by Johnson & Johnson in its history.

EchoStar VII is an American geostationary communications satellite which was operated by DISH Network, originally EchoStar. It was positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 119° West, from where it is used to provide high-definition television direct broadcasting services to the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Media Access Project</span> American advocacy organization

The Media Access Project was a non-profit group that promoted the public's interest before Congress and the US court system. MAP grew out of a 1960s lawsuit against the United Church of Christ and was eventually formed in 1972 in order to advance the rights of the public wanting to participate in the democratic process. Some of their first cases involved two TV stations in Mississippi not catering to the African American Community, resulting in the stations almost being shut down. From that era and cases came the thought "that members of the viewing and listening public have the legal right, derived from the First Amendment, to participate in FCC proceedings." Their most common way of fighting cases was through lobbying. The group suspended operations on May 1, 2012.

<i>Satellite Broadcasting & Communications Assn v. FCC</i>

Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association v. FCC, 275 F.3d 337 was a case decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Congress required satellite television carriers to carry all requesting local broadcast stations in the market where the carrier voluntarily decides to carry one local station in order to, in part, preserve a multiplicity of local broadcast outlets for over-the-air-viewers who do not subscribe either to satellite or cable service.

Communications law refers to the regulation of electronic communications by wire or radio. It encompasses regulations governing broadcasting, telephone and telecommunications service, cable television, satellite communications, wireless telecommunications, and the Internet.

Dish Network has been the subject of a number of criticisms relating to management of advertising, disclosure of fees, telemarketing, employee rights and programming disputes; a number of which resulted in lawsuits. In the early 2000s, Dish Network received criticism regarding controversial technology and carriage disputes with programming providers. Most notably, when the Hopper digital video recorder provided an easy way for viewers to watch certain programming without commercials, major networks sued Dish Network.

Tegna Inc. is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publicly traded companies. Tegna comprised the more profitable broadcast television and digital media divisions of the old Gannett, while Gannett's publishing interests were spun off as a "new" company that retained the Gannett name. Tegna owns or operates 68 television stations in 54 markets, and holds properties in digital media.

John Oller is an American biographer, historian, and former Wall Street attorney.

Standard Media Group is an American broadcast and digital media company based in Nashville, Tennessee. Standard Media was founded in 2018 by Deborah A. McDermott, who serves as the company's CEO. Previously, McDermott was the chief operating officer of Media General and CEO-president of Young Broadcasting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Locast</span> Former American over-the-top streaming television service

Locast was an American non-profit streaming television service that allowed users to view live streams of over-the-air television stations. The service was founded by attorney David Goodfriend under the banner of the Sports Fans Coalition.

References

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Sarasohn, Judy (2001-08-09). "Satellite With a Foot in the Door". Washington Post. Retrieved 2023-11-03.
  2. "Profile David Goodfriend — Georgetown Law". www.law.georgetown.edu. Retrieved 2016-10-04.
  3. "Goodfriend to Lobby Hill for EchoStar". Multichannel News. 2006-12-08. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
  4. Fusfeld, Adam. "Sports Fan Advocacy Group Lobbying On Capitol Hill". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
  5. Birnbaum, Emily (2023-01-13). "Union Lawyer's Fight Against Tegna Deal Helps Its Corporate Foes". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2023-12-04.