About

Well-accomplished media and broadcasting lawyer Zehra Betul Ayranci can boast an imposing career, having represented Fortune 500 companies and leading global companies in the technology, media, entertainment and sports industries regarding trademark, copyright and contract law related matters in Turkey. She also has a history of successfully leading Turkish holding companies in their operations in other jurisdictions especially in the US. Taking some time out to complete her postgraduate studies at the University Of California School Of Law as the only Turkish grantee of a Fulbright Scholarship for a Master of Laws course, Ayranci returned to Turkey in late 2015 and was offered the role of legal counsel at television station, TV8, specifically responsible for the international business and legal affairs in EMEA and Americas. In her role at TV8, Ayranci contributed to the drafting license, production, work-for-hire, talent, broadcasting, advertisement, sponsorship, product-integration, on and off-air marketing contracts and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) related to its portfolio of popular national television shows. Amongst her most notable and exciting roles, Ayranci worked for the Turkish Basketball Federation as an advisor assisting the legal sportive organisation and international relations department. ‘At the time, NBA was in lockout, therefore many NBA players came to Turkey to play in the Turkish league and the broadcasters in the US were not happy about the situation’. At this point, Ayranci led the communications with the NBA players association, major media companies and other stakeholders on behalf of Turkish Basketball Federation, reporting directly senior officials within the federation: ‘My role included taking actions against defamatory and misleading news and publications against Turkey and Turkish league, amongst other communication tasks’. Her sterling work on this gained significant praise not only internally but also from external stakeholders – she was asked soon after to be a member of the legal board of the Turkish Hockey Federation. Further to her practice as in-house counsel she also continues to independently author articles and books. In October 2017, Ayranci moved to the Netherlands to join Fox Networks Group as legal counsel working on sports acquisitions in Europe and Africa.