How is AMC Networks still independent?
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AMC is newly independent, sorta. It was part of Cablevision until 2011.
There are two big reasons it hasn’t been snatched up in the flurry of M&A in the industry.
1) The owner. This is probably the most important. The owner is Jimmy Dolan. The Dolans are notorious uhh lets just call them notorious and leave it there. They are billionaires. They also own the NY Knicks and NY Rangers, and some other assets. While AMC is technically a public company, the Dolans are the main shareholders and control the company. They really don’t have any interest in selling any of their sports or media properties. They have a… lets say, less than stellar reputation that is well earned.
2) AMC isn’t a particularly interesting package of channels. They don’t own much IP and most networks are fairly low performing. AMC network itself has minimal ratings outside of very specific timeslots (such as the exact time slot Walking Dead or Better Call Saul aired) and the rest of the tiem the channel might as well not exist. The other stances, such as Sundance, BBC America, IFV, and We TV, are pretty much crap and not worth much. Its not really a package of channels that adds too much to any of the other big players, like Comcast, Disney, or Viacom, nor is it attractive to an outside media player, like Charter Cable or Verizon. Shudder is nice (its a horror streaming service) but just isn’t interesting enough either.
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