Charter to launch AMC Premiere and SVOD Services

AMC also announced a new carriage agreement with Charter Communication. As part of the deal, Charter will launch all of its subscription video on demand services plus AMC Premiere, the company’s ad-free version of its channel.

The SVOD services include Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now and UMC.

“We are pleased to be working with AMC Networks to offer our customers a diverse slate of additional SVOD options in the near future,” said Tom Montemagno, executive VP, programming acquisition for Charter. “With partners like AMC Networks, we’re strategically enabling our customers to have greater control over the content they want, in one place through their Spectrum subscription, and with pricing flexibility to meet their needs.”

AMC said third-quarter net income rose to $117 million, or $2.07 a share, from $111 million, or $1.93 a share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 3.1% to $719 million.

The company’s national networks group reported a 3% decline to $182.5 million in operating income as revenue dipped 0.2% to $559 million.

Distribution revenue was up 1.1% to $365 million. Ad revenue was down 2.6% to $194 million.

The company cut the losses at its international and other unit by 31.3% to $11.5 million.

“AMC Networks is well on its way to strategically transforming itself from a ‘cable channels company’ into a premier content company with a suite of focused and targeted video entertainment products that are delivered to viewers on an expanding array of platforms,” said AMC Networks CEO Josh Sapan.

“The underlying strategic priorities fueling our transformation have been and continue to be creating and owning great content and valuable IP, expanding our targeted direct-to-consumer services, maximizing the long-term value of our traditional linear business and diversifying our revenue by developing new avenues of content monetization,” Sapan said. “We are optimizing the value and reach of our content in a variety of ways and executing on a plan that will enable us to thrive in a very dynamic and competitive environment.”