AMC Networks’ interim executive chairman James Dolan issued a stark warning as the company revealed its fourth-quarter earnings Friday: The industry’s “current mechanisms for monetizing content are not working.”
“Across the board, the content industry is being disrupted by cord cutting in the traditional linear sector or MVPDs and also in the streaming sector,” Dolan told analysts on the company’s earnings call. “It’s also being disrupted by changing viewership habits, a challenged ad market and rising content costs.”
That materialized in a $403.8 million content write-off for the IFC Films and Sundance Channel parent in 2022. The writedown accounted for the bulk of restructuring charges that led to a net loss of $264.7