Advanced Television

AMC Networks takes full control of BBC America

November 8, 2024

AMC Networks has reported financial results for Q3, and also announced that is has closed a transaction with BBC Studios which sees it acquired the remaining 50.1 per cent of the BBC America joint-venture that it had not previously owned for $42 million in cash.

The company said it closed the transaction for BBC Studios on November 1st. AMC Networks now owns 100 per cent of the BBC America business, with full operational control, and will continue to fully consolidate BBC America.

Chief Executive Officer, Kristin Dolan, commented: “As we manage this business within a complex and changing environment, we remain focused on our key strategic pillars – programming, partnerships and profitability. During the quarter, we made significant advancements across all three areas. We have generated $293 million (€272.5m) of free cash flow year to date and are well on our way to delivering our stated goal of approximately half a billion dollars in cumulative free cash over two years. We also entered into new and enhanced partnerships with major companies like Charter, Netflix, Amazon and others which are driving our company forward as we continue to provide distinctive, high-quality programming to customers across an expanding array of platforms.”

Domestic Operations Q3

  • Domestic Operations revenues decreased 2 per cent from the prior year to $530 million.
    • Subscription revenues decreased 5 per cent to $316 million, primarily due to declines in the linear subscriber universe, partially offset by an increase in streaming revenues.
      • Streaming revenues increased 7 per cent to $152 million driven by year-over-year subscriber growth and price increases.
        • Streaming subscribers increased 5 per cent YoY to 11.8 million.
      • Affiliate revenues decreased 13 per cent to $164 million, primarily due to basic subscriber declines.
    • Content licensing revenues increased 31 per cent to $81 million due to availability of deliveries in the period, including deliveries related to AMC branded shows made in the period in connection with the new Netflix content licensing agreement.
    • Advertising revenues decreased 10 per cent to $133 million due to linear ratings declines and a challenging ad market, partly offset by digital and advanced advertising revenue growth.
  • Operating income decreased 20 per cent to $130 million.

International Q3

  • International revenues decreased 24 per cent from the prior year to $74 million. The prior period included $20 million of content licensing and other revenues related to 25/7 Media.
    • Subscription revenues decreased 14 per cent to $49 million, primarily due to the non-renewal of an AMCNI distribution agreement in the UK that occurred in Q4 2023.
    • Content licensing and other revenues decreased 88 per cent to $3 million due to the sale of the aforementioned interest in 25/7 Media in December 2023.
    • Advertising revenues increased 16 per cent to $22 million due to new streaming offerings launched in the UK and growth in Central and Northern Europe.
  • Operating income increased 9 per cent to $9 million.

Categories: Articles, Business, M&A, Results

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