Dish settlement boosts AMC Networks' 2Q profit
AMC Networks, channel behind 'Mad Men,' gets 2Q boost from $133M Dish payment
NEW YORK (AP) -- AMC Networks saw net income more than triple during the second quarter thanks to a $132.9 million payment from a dispute with Dish Network.
Removing one-time items like that, however, the company fell short of Wall Street profit and revenue expectations and its stock slid 5 percent Thursday.
In the April-June period, the company best known for its shows "Mad Men," ''The Walking Dead" and "Breaking Bad," posted a profit of $135.7 million, or $1.87 per share. That compares with a profit of $41.5 million, or 58 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2012.
The payment comes from a clash between AMC and Dish after the satellite TV company dropped AMC, IFC and WE tv channels last summer. The companies settled later in the year and Dish resumed carrying AMC's channels.
Excluding the settlement payment, AMC earned 74 cents per share, four cents below the average estimate of analysts surveyed by FactSet.
Revenue rose 16 percent, to $379.3 million from $327.6 million, while analysts expected $367.2 million.
AMC cited its original programing for healthier revenues. Distribution revenue, which includes payments from TV providers such as cable companies, rose 18 percent to $206 million. Advertising revenue rose 14 percent to $147 million.
AMC shares fell $3.65 to $67.50 in afternoon trading.
