MTV's head of business and legal affairs for emerging markets Robert Cummins talks to Leigh Jackson about the entertainment giant's expansion into new regions like Eastern Europe and why cracking new markets turn lawyers into problem solvers

Robert Cummins could be the most important lawyer on the current roster of MTV legal staff – he is the head of business and legal affairs for emerging markets.

The Viacom-owned entertainment company, which is well established in the US and the UK, is targeting the relatively untapped but potentially profitable regions of Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

MTV's focus on planting its flag on uncharted territory brings with it a raft of legal issues – making the work of its specialised emerging markets legal function crucial to its future.

Cummins' team spans four countries. He works with three other lawyers in their London office, with an additional four lawyers – plus four support staff – working from Poland, a further two lawyers based in Hungary and one lawyer working out of South Africa.

Cummins, almost two years into the role, has already witnessed significant growth in the division since he started in October 2006. The launch of MTV Arabia in November last year, for example, has meant that his team has now added the Middle East to its coverage.

Cummins says: "In a fast-expanding business, the way we deliver legal advice is less about in-depth analysis, and more about what solutions will enable the business to move ahead. We have to be pragmatic and efficient."

With such diverse regions of the world covered by the emerging markets team, it is vital that the team maintains a close working relationship and operates collectively to get the work done.

Cummins explains: "The emerging markets team is spread across four countries, and we all have different cultural and jurisdictional backgrounds, but we all work as one team."

He adds: "For example, our negotiations for the new Nickelodeon Arabia children's channel [launched last month] were handled by in-house lawyers in London and Warsaw. But we try to take a common approach to common issues affecting our territories."

As seen in the Nickelodeon Arabia deal, the company is about more than just music. MTV Networks International (MTVNI) is responsible for a large number of channels, including children's network Nickelodeon and Paramount Comedy; it is currently available in more than 160 countries in 33 languages.

With the company focused on global growth, the work in Cummins' team is often fast-paced, requiring its lawyers to respond quickly.

To be able to deal with the growth in emerging markets effectively, the structure of the legal function is fundamental. One of Cummins' tasks is ensuring that his team is set up in the most suitable way to serve the business.

A restructuring of the function last year saw the size of MTV's London-based corporate centre group reduced, while at the same time numerous channel production and operations roles were transferred to emerging hotspots, such as Poland.

"These changes, and the continuing growth of MTVNI's emerging markets business unit, are echoed in the emerging markets team," says Cummins.

Indeed, the heart of the legal function was moved from London to Poland as part of a strategic and cost-saving measure. "Poland is the hub for all activity across emerging markets," he says. "It manages TV channels for distribution across most emerging markets."

The continued growth of MTV in emerging markets may bring with it the need to recruit more lawyers, and Cummins has a clear idea of what it will take to be a successful part of his group.

"When seeking new team members, we look not so much for specific media knowledge experience, but rather for skills and attributes which could help them succeed in our business environment," he says.

Cummins and his team manage to handle an impressive 95% of their legal work in-house, with litigation and mergers and acquisition work in unfamiliar jurisdictions tendered out to external counsel.

The culture of corporate MTV is such that there is an expectation that a solid in-house team will avoid the need for external counsel.

Despite that, MTV has close ties to a number of law firms including Field Fisher Waterhouse, White & Case and Linklaters, and many of its external counsel have strong links to its parent company, Viacom.

Cummins says: "In emerging markets at the moment we have a strong relationship with Field Fisher, they know our business quite well and have considerable expertise in media law and franchising.

"In Poland and the Czech Republic, we have worked with White & Case and we have been using Linklaters' Budapest office for some trademark litigation work in Hungary."

Viacom itself uses a vast array of firms for different types of work, operating a strict panel which Cummins describes as "a well-defined external counsel policy. That policy has a strong influence on how we engage with external counsel".

And with Cummins and his team so closely linked to the future of the company, he is committed to ensuring that they work hard – and at the same time continue to raise the profile of the MTV legal team.

With MTV holding a firm place as one of the more successful media companies in the mature markets of the UK and the US, the stated focus on emerging markets seems sensible as a means of staying on top.

Bringing new content to new consumers has led to the launch of a number of new channels this year – Nickelodeon Polska and Arabiya both launched in July this year and Comedy Central Hungary is set to launch in October; and more are likely to come in the future.

MTV management chose the company's Warsaw hub to manage the launch of Europe's first-ever music television channel in high definition, due for launch next month. Cummins adds: "We launched four new channels last year and have launched three this year in emerging markets alone."

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