AMC Networks’ improved tiering on Dish Network added about 1.3...
AMC Networks’ improved tiering on Dish Network added about 1.3 million subscribers to its base, which rose to 98.2 million from 96.9, BTIG analyst Richard Greenberg said. As part of a settlement of the Voom suit in October, AMC Network…
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was restored Oct. 21 on Dish to a more widely distributed tier -- America’s Top 120 (AT120) -- against America’s Top 200 (AT200) where it previously resided, Greenberg said. AMC’s other channels, including WE, IFC and Sundance also benefitted from the new structure, Greenberg said. WE and IFC shifted to AT120 from AT200, each adding 1.3 million subscribers in the process in increasing to 79.8 million and 68.2 million subscribers, Greenberg said. Sundance moved to AT200 from Blockbuster@Home premium package, adding 9.7 million subscribers, boosting its base to 50.1 million, Greenberg said. WE, IFC and Sundance were scheduled to go back on Dish Thursday. While the gains at AMC and WE won’t have “meaningful impact” on AMC Networks’ advertising and sponsorship, distribution at IFC is up 11 percent from year ago, while Sundance jumped 24 percent, Greenberg said. IFC has begun to switch to an advertising-based network, with Sundance having the potential to make the change within one to two years, Greenberg said. The broader distribution of AMC on Dish “illustrates the decisiveness” of the Voom legal victory, Greenberg said. “We expect that the new AMC affiliate fees paid by Dish will be quite attractive relative to what Dish was paying” before, Greenberg said. With the Dish agreement in hand, AMC’s subscriber fees should improve seven percent from a year earlier, given that $20 million was likely lost during AMC’s four-month dispute with Dish when it lost carriage on the satellite service, Greenberg said. In addition to better tiering, AMC received $310 million as its share of a $700 million settlement with Dish that also involved former parent Cablevision. The pact ended a costly legal battle for Dish, which was sued by Cablevision in 2008 after it dropped Voom channels, ending a 15-year distribution pact signed three years earlier. As part of settlement, Dish paid $80 million for Cablevision’s multichannel video distribution and data service spectrum licenses.