Commentary

Selling Midsized Cable Network Groups: Are There Any Buyers?

by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, February 18, 2025

Tough challenges continue for small to mid-sized cable TV network-centric companies.

AMC Networks reported that fourth-quarter revenue was down 12% to $599 million, with advertising revenues also down, as well as distribution fees.

All this is equivalent to a TV rerun. How often can we continue to hear this story?

On the flip side, AMC says streaming has a better outlook -- with revenue up 8% to $156 million, with streaming subscribers rising to 12.4 million for all its platforms -- AMC+, Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now, ALLBLK and HIDIVE. This is up from 11.4 million subscribers a year ago.

But that 12.4 million mark is nowhere near the 60 to 70 million subscriber total of its cable networks. The growth is coming way too slowly.

And it's not just AMC Networks. Consider where A&E Networks and Hallmark Networks are these days. All are trying to play catch up. Now, even the bigger guys -- while they are now eking out small profits from streaming -- are nowhere near replacing all the respective linear TV businesses.

To make matters worse, AMC also had to agree to a $268.7 million goodwill impairment charge on its domestic operations reporting unit, due to “continued softness in the domestic linear marketplace.’’

The only hope is for these groups to merge with the bigger ones. But even then, what are the incentives now for those companies to add more cable TV networks -- especially when companies like Comcast and perhaps WBD and Paramount will move into spinning off, perhaps even closing down these networks?

The best decision to sell these networks was probably around 2019, when 21st Century Fox made the prudent decision to off their cable networks -- and studio operations -- to Disney.

Short of closing operations, we need to carefully consider what is of value going forward -- production operations, library content, brand association, viewer/user data?

Perhaps those big digital-first media companies with all the wherewithal -- Google, Amazon, Apple -- might find something to use in future years as they try to scoop up any legacy TV business that has some value.

That seems to be a tough question to answer.

cable tv, linear tv, revenue, streaming, subscriptions, television

2 comments about "Selling Midsized Cable Network Groups: Are There Any Buyers?".

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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, February 19, 2025 at 10:29 a.m.
Wayne, it all depends on what kind of cable channel is being offered for sale, how far in advance are its carriage fees secured, what other cable channels are in the package, and whether it complements what the buyer already has. For example, if it was a kid or youth oriented channel, without long term secure carriage fee deals in place, it would be a very risky buy. No matter what you do you are unlikely to get the young folks back.If it was the Comcast bundle, including MSNBC, that might just work for a buyer who lacked a news presence and was willing to totally revamp some of the entertainment xhannels involved by drastic program cost cutting and other ploys.
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Tim Messier from Mile Marker 1 Advisors, February 20, 2025 at 4:11 a.m.

Ed, you've hit the nail on the head ... mostly. You've pointed out the risk on the younger end of the spectrum, though the market has been pushing this content out of linear for some time. Without serious reinvention, the Gen X (me)/Boomer traditionally-linear content is increasingly at risk. While not the best example, weather became a commodity and TWC began to lose its relevance years ago. Add to that the new political uncertainty of the NWS, whch TWC relies on. Much more relevant are the news organizations you mentioned, which have been facing headwinds for many years, and now also face uncertain political realities.

I anticipate entertainment will continue to migrate to streaming (I'm including on-demand here, which I suspect many Boomers don't associate with streaming when it's delivered by their cable provider) and let's hope that news and information sees a reinvention and not consolidation.