Expert Witness Services
Admission
Tom Meek was admitted as an expert on broadcasting and cable issues before the Supreme Court of the United States during Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. et al v. Federal Communications Commission et al., (95-992), 520 U.S.180 (1997).
Tom Meek has also submitted numerous presentations to various government agencies cited in legislation and court proceedings, as well as providing depositions and presentation for other cases.
He is admitted before U.S. Courts as an expert in broadcasting and cable matters, and is available to provide expert services on a wide range of television-related issues.
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April, 4, 1997
Dear Tom:
I am pleased that your work was cited so frequently by the majority of the Supreme Court in our "must-carry" victory. The importance of your work to that opinion is an accurate reflection of the importance of your work in the entire effort. From the beginning, you played a major role in focusing our attention on the kinds of empirical evidence that could, and should, be developed, and did an excellent job in implementing that rather complicated effort.
In view of the very slender margin of our victory, I think it can be fairly said that all of the lawyers and experts who worked on the case contributed significantly to the ultimate victory, but your efforts, in particular, deserve special commendation.
Thanks again for all of your help. I hope we have opportunities to work together again in the future.
Sincerely,
Bruce J. Ennis
Jenner & Block
Washington, DC
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"...Congratulations, I read the decision...I've never seen one expert cited so many times in a Supreme Court Opinion - Laurence Tribe would be envious..."
Charles J. Sennet, Senior Counsel
The Tribune Company
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TVCCS generated more than 100,000 pages of original research based on specialized Nielsen and Library Of Congress data in the Turner Broadcasting vs. FCC case affirming the rights of local broadcasters to gain carriage on local cable systems ("must-carry"), helping lead broadcasters, the Federal Communications Commission and United States Department of Justice to a 5-4 landmark decision.
The extensive use of Nielsen ratings and copyright data on a nationwide and detailed scale was the first time such information was ever generated and presented to U.S. courts, and Tom Meek was the first expert ever allowed by Nielsen to present its proprietary data in a legal case.
Tom Meek was directly cited more than 15 times in the majority decision, and provided baseline "facts not in dispute" cited by the court throughout the opinion on dozens of other occasions.
TVCCS has also prepared additional materials submitted in Federal Courts on the issue of Syndicated Program Exclusivity (Syndex) (United Video, Inc. v FCC (1989)). These submissions were the only studies using ratings data which indicated a clear relationship between superstation program duplication and decreased ratings for local television stations airing identical programming. These same studies were also used in helping pass H.R. 2848 (1988), The Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1988, which has become the key tool in protecting the network programming distribution of local television stations against satellite-delivered duplicates.
When viewed as a whole, Must-Carry, Syndex and The Satellite Home Viewer Act are likely the three most crucial legislative/judicial decisions of the past twenty years protecting the rights of local television broadcasters, and Tom Meek/TVCCS has played a significant role in all three.
Detailed information about the Turner case is provided here on a separate page for reference and scholarship purposes.