Navigating Common Compliance Matters

Robert M. Winteringham primarily assists public broadcasting stations and other entities receiving grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) with issues related to grant compliance, audit preparation and response, as well as other matters associated with the public broadcasting industry. He also assists a variety of entities with general compliance matters such as policy formulation, meeting facilitation, and compliance performance. He served as CPB’s Deputy General Counsel from 2005 - 2013 and worked as an attorney in CPB's Office of General Counsel for nearly sixteen years. He also collaborates with CPB financial reporting compliance professionals through the Public Media Consulting Group..

Francisco "Frank" Montero specializes in telecommunications, broadcasting, media, and technology. Mr. Montero’s practice includes FCC regulatory counseling, corporate finance, asset and securities acquisitions, intellectual property, and real estate and commercial transactions.

Mr. Montero was an appointed member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age. He served as Director of the FCC's Office of Communications Business Opportunities during the Clinton Administration. While at the FCC, Frank worked extensively with industry, trade associations, financial institutions, and governmental agencies to create business opportunities for entrepreneurs, and technology and telecommunications start-ups and was recognized by the Chairman of the FCC for “dedication to bridging the digital divide”.

Mr. Montero is well known as an early advocate for Hispanic and Spanish language media in the U.S. and Latin America. He serves as a Director of the American Academy of Radio Arts & Sciences and also the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (“MMTC”). He helped form and served on the boards of the American Hispanic Owned Radio Association (AHORA), the Spanish Broadcasters Association, and the National Association of Minority Media Executives. Frank is the Washington, DC legal representative for the Puerto Rico Broadcasters Association and received the Association’s award for “service to the Puerto Rico radio industry”.

Frank was named to the list of “Top Lawyers” by the media and telecommunications publication CableFax, two years in a row, and was named one of the “Top Washington DC Lawyers” by Super Lawyers.com. In 2019, Frank was listed in Radio + Television Business Report’s inaugural list of the top 10 media attorneys in the US. He has been inducted to the MMTC Hall of Fame and recognized by Multichannel News to be among the top cable TV transactional attorneys. Frank received the Hispanic Radio Conference’s Medallas de Cortez Distinguished Leadership Award for significant contributions to Spanish-language and Hispanic broadcasting. He also serves on the Advisory Boards for Bloomberg BNA Now: Tech and Telecom and the Radio Ink Hispanic Radio Conference.

Mr. Montero studied law at the George Washington University Law School, where he served on the George Washington University Law Review. He did his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan. He is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia, New York, and Virginia. He is a former Managing Partner of Fletcher Heald and former Co-Chair of the Federal Communications Bar Association’s Transactional Practice and Professional Responsibility Committees. He is President of the George Washington Law Alumni Board, where he also serves on the Executive Committee. Frank is a frequent speaker at telecommunications and media industry conferences and writes on communications law, finance, commercial transactions, and intellectual property for publications such as Radio + Television Business Report, Bloomberg BNA Telecom Law Reports, and Radio Ink. Mr. Montero is fluent in Spanish.

Dan Kirkpatrick joined the firm in 2009 after practicing communications law at a large law firm in Washington, D.C. He represents clients on a broad range of regulatory and transactional matters, with a focus on television and radio stations and other content producers.

Mr. Kirkpatrick has significant experience counseling television stations regarding cable and satellite carriage issues, including the negotiation of retransmission consent and other carriage agreements, the enforcement of mandatory carriage, network non-duplication and syndicated exclusivity rights, and prosecution of market modification proceedings. He has expertise in negotiating program acquisition and distribution agreements for broadcast and non-broadcast clients, including network affiliation agreements and distribution agreements on traditional MVPD platforms, as well as OTT services.

Mr. Kirkpatrick also counsels television and radio stations on compliance with FCC regulations affecting their day-to-day operations, as well as in the context of sale, purchase, and financing transactions. He has substantial experience in compliance with the FCC’s media ownership rules, children’s programming and other content restrictions, and EEO regulations. He has assisted numerous radio and television stations with routine and non-routine licensing matters and license renewal proceedings, and has guided broadcast clients through the regulatory and transactional aspects of station purchases, sales, and financings. Mr. Kirkpatrick has represented broadcast clients in rulemaking proceedings before the FCC on topics such as ownership regulation and localism initiatives.

Mr. Kirkpatrick attended law school at the University of Virginia, where he served on the Virginia Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif. He received a BA from the College of William and Mary with a double major in Psychology and Philosophy. He is a member of the Commonwealth of Virginia and District of Columbia bars and the Federal Communications Bar Association.