AMC Networks reported net revenue of $555 million, down from $596 million in the prior year. Operating income fell to $63 million from $110 million. Earnings per share came in at 54 cents, missing analyst expectations.

Subscription revenues decreased 3% to $313 million due to declines in the linear subscriber universe.. Streaming revenues increased 8% to $157 million, which was largely due to the impact of price increases.

Starting this quarter, the company is changing the way it reports streaming subscribers. The number now only include subscribers who pay a fee for one of their services, rather than those who receive access to one of the streaming services through a video package that also includes linear programming, such as Charter’s Spectrum TV customers, who receive ad-supported AMC+ because they have AMC in their Spectrum video package, which became available at the end of March.

This also caused the company to “recast” its prior subscriber numbers. Given that, the company reported 10.2 million streaming subscribers in the first quarter, flat with the number from a year earlier. This is down slightly from the recast 10.4 million in Q4 2024. 

“The sequential decrease reflects our continued focus on higher quality subscribers, which was realized through the implementation of tighter credit standards for new sign-ups across our DTC and partner acquisition funnels as well as the timing and cadence of our content slate and subscriber acquisition marketing,” the company said in the press release. 

“We continue to execute on our core strengths as we navigate the changing world of media. During the first quarter we delivered high-quality premium programming to our audiences, launched ad-supported AMC+ on Charter and generated $94 million of free cash flow. We remain nimble and opportunistic in broadly distributing our sought-after content across all available platforms to build value for our partners, viewers and shareholders,” said CEO Kristin Dolan said.

More to come.