AMCX — Q2 2026 Financial Report Analysis

Overview

AMC Global Media, the company called AMC Networks until April 2026 (owner of the AMC, We TV, BBC America, IFC and SundanceTV cable channels and the AMC+, Acorn TV and Shudder streaming services), reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $547.5 million, down 8.8% from $600.0 million a year earlier. Operating income fell 75% to $15.9 million and the company swung to a net loss of $21.9 million ($0.51 per diluted share) from a $50.3 million profit ($0.91) in Q2 2025. Two things drove the drop. Cable affiliate fees, the per-subscriber fees TV providers like Comcast pay to carry the channels, fell 17% as cord-cutting continued. Content licensing, revenue from selling shows to other platforms, fell 34%, mostly because fewer titles were delivered in the quarter. The streaming business grew, but not enough to make up for either.

The bigger news came the same day as the results: a $500 million, five-year deal licensing The Walking Dead Universe to Netflix. None of it is in this quarter's numbers, but the company expects $200–225 million of revenue from it in each of 2026 and 2027.

At a glance

• Affiliate revenue −17% to $126 million: the traditional cable fee business is shrinking faster than streaming ($180 million, +6%) is growing, and the company expects the subscriber losses to continue.
• Adjusted operating income $46.1 million, down 58%: in Q2 this barely covered the $42.7 million of interest expense on $1.74 billion of debt.
• $500 million Netflix deal, but only ~$25 million of cash in 2026: revenue will be booked far ahead of the cash (see below).

Key metrics

Prior-year streaming and affiliate figures are implied from the growth rates the company reported. "n/m" = not meaningful (profit turned to loss).

Adjusted operating income is the company's preferred profit measure: operating income before depreciation, amortization, share-based pay and restructuring costs. Free cash flow is cash from operations minus capital spending.

Segment performance

Domestic Operations (86% of revenue): revenue fell 10.7% to $470.4 million and segment adjusted operating income fell 52% to $61.0 million.

• Subscription: streaming revenue rose 6% to $180 million "primarily due to the impact of price increases across our services," so the growth came from higher prices, not more subscribers. Streaming is now more than a third of domestic revenue. Affiliate revenue fell 17% "primarily due to basic subscriber declines."
• Advertising: down 11%, but this includes a one-time hit from a "now resolved system integration issue." Without it, the company says advertising fell by a mid-single-digit percentage because of lower ratings and weaker ad pricing, partly offset by digital ad growth.
• Content licensing: down 34% because of the "timing and availability of deliveries." The prior-year quarter also included the sale of the company's music catalog and extra revenue from producing Silo, a series AMC Studios made for another company. This line moves around with the delivery calendar, so one quarter says little about the trend.
• Segment profit fell faster than revenue because costs went up while revenue went down. Selling, general and administrative costs rose 2.1%, mainly from marketing for the premiere of The Audacity. Programming-related operating costs rose 1.9%.

International (14% of revenue): revenue rose 4.1% to $78.6 million, or 2% excluding currency gains. Advertising rose 13% on revenue tied to strong U.K. advertising in Q4 2025 that "has since returned to normal levels." Subscription revenue slipped 1% after the wind-down of a joint venture in Poland and Africa. Segment adjusted operating income dipped 2.6% to $14.4 million.

What the headline numbers hide

• Debt costs are eating the operating profit. Q2 interest expense was $42.7 million against adjusted operating income of $46.1 million and GAAP operating income of $15.9 million. Interest expense barely changed from a year ago ($42.5 million) even though total debt is lower, because the company refinanced into 10.50% senior secured notes due 2032, which now make up $1.32 billion of the $1.74 billion total. Net debt (debt minus cash) is $1.27 billion, or 4.1 times the last twelve months' adjusted operating income of $313 million.
• Last year's profit was flattered by a one-off. Q2 2025 included a $25.7 million gain from buying back bonds below face value. Q2 2026 had a $3.8 million loss from repaying the Term Loan A early and redeeming the last 2029 notes. Even on the company's adjusted basis, which strips both out, EPS went from $0.69 to −$0.28, so the decline is real and not an accounting artifact.
• The year-ago share count is not comparable. Diluted shares fell from 56.4 million to 43.0 million, mostly because last year's count included shares from the convertible notes, which are excluded when the company makes a loss. Basic shares fell more modestly, from 44.9 million to 43.0 million. In May the company also started a $30 million accelerated share repurchase, buying back stock even with leverage at 4.1x.
• Cash flow beats earnings partly because content spending is below the expense line. First-half operating cash flow was $124.7 million despite a $36.9 million net loss. One reason: the company recorded $415.4 million of program-rights amortization (the content library's cost being expensed over time) while the net cash change from program rights and obligations was $343.1 million. The book value of the content library fell from $1.76 billion in December to $1.63 billion. That helps cash today, but it can't go on indefinitely without leaving fewer shows to sell.
• The Netflix deal will book revenue years ahead of the cash. The deal pays $500 million in cash, but because the payments are spread out, the company will recognize only about $445 million of revenue (the present value). It expects $200–225 million of that revenue in each of 2026 and 2027, but only about $25 million of cash in 2026 and about $100 million a year from 2027 to 2030. Expect reported revenue and adjusted operating income to jump in the second half while receivables build. Free cash flow is the better gauge here.
• A legal settlement after the quarter hits Q3. On September 4 the company settled the long-running profit-participation lawsuit brought by Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman and other producers for $120 million: $85 million in cash by September 18 and a $35 million advance on future participation payments due by January 31, 2027. It will take an ~$85 million charge in Q3. The company will exclude that charge from adjusted operating income, but it counts in GAAP results.
• First-half results also included $16.7 million of third-party fees for the Q1 bond exchange (in "miscellaneous" expense) and $5.7 million of restructuring charges. Receivables fell from $575 million to $547 million, so there is no sign of collections stretching.

Takeaway: The cable business that funds AMC Global Media is shrinking. Affiliate fees fell 17% this quarter, and adjusted operating income ($46 million) barely covered interest on its 10.5% debt ($43 million). The Netflix Walking Dead deal will make 2026–27 revenue look much better, but most of its cash arrives from 2027 to 2031, so it supports the debt load rather than fixing the underlying decline.

Outlook

Management said it was "increasing our guidance for the full year" on the July 30 call. The only figure given in a filing is free cash flow. In the July call it guided to about $220 million of 2026 free cash flow. After the lawsuit settlement it cut that to about $150 million on September 8 (an 8-K filing), and said the cut is entirely the $85 million settlement payment net of its tax benefit, with the underlying outlook unchanged. It said there is "no change" to its previously issued revenue and adjusted operating income outlook, but those figures are not stated in the filings we reviewed, so we don't quote them here. First-half free cash flow was $108.1 million.

What to watch:

• Q3 (10-Q expected around early November): the first revenue from the Netflix license, against the $85 million settlement charge. GAAP and adjusted results will diverge sharply.
• Affiliate decline rate: the company renewed carriage deals with Comcast, DirecTV, DISH and YouTube in the past year, which locks in distribution but doesn't stop subscriber losses. If declines stay around 17%, they will keep outrunning streaming growth that relies on price increases.
• Debt: the next maturities are $276.7 million of 4.25% senior notes and $143.8 million of 4.25% convertible notes, both due February 2029. With $464 million of cash and the company itself saying it does not expect to generate enough cash to repay all its debt at maturity, how it refinances these (and whether buybacks continue) matters more than any single quarter's ad numbers.

Our view: the Netflix deal is a good use of the company's most valuable franchise and should lift reported 2026–27 results. But the core question is unchanged: whether streaming and licensing can grow fast enough to replace a cable fee stream shrinking by double digits, while about $170 million a year goes to interest.