AMC Networks Paid Former CEOs Christina Spade, Matt Blank, Josh Sapan A Combined $40M In 2022

Jill Goldsmith and Dade Hayes
·2 min read
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AMC Networks said it paid three former CEOs –Christina Spade, Matt Blank and Josh Sapan — packages worth more than a combined $40 million for 2022.

Spade, the most recent, was hastened out in November after just three months in the job. She had served as COO and CFO for a year previously. AMC’s executive chairman James Dolan took the helm when she left, simultaneously launching a major cost cutting push — including layoffs of 20% of the workforce as per trends in the broader media industry — restructuring and programming pullbacks. Kristin Dolan, his wife, and the founder of a data analytics firm and a former Cablevision executive, was named CEO in February.

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Spade’s compensation totaled $21.4 million, up from $7 million the year before, AMC said in a proxy statement filed with the SEC that lists the pay of a company’s highest compensated executives.

Mathew Blank, the former Showtime boss, served as interim CEO for a year from Sept. of 2021 through Sept. of 2022, earning $4.9 million. He is also a director.

And Josh Sapan, former executive vice chairman, and former CEO and president, earned $15.1 million. Sapan stepped down as CEO in Sept. 2021, segueing to the role of executive vice chairman. His term for that ended at the end of 2022.

Kristin Dolan had most recently been serving as CEO of 605, the audience measurement and data analytics firm she founded in 2016. Before 605, she spent 16 years in various operating roles at Cablevision, including as chief operating officer. That company, which was one of the largest MVPDs and a force in the New York market (where the other Dolan assets, including Madison Square Garden, are based) was sold in 2016 to French telecom firm Altice.

AMC Networks has also been seen for years as a likely takeover target given its relatively small size in a landscape that’s struggling to pivot profitably from linear television to streaming. It’s received and refused offers and the Dolan family’s control of the company makes visibility on that front tough.

AMC Networks’ assets include AMC+, which recently announced plans to launch an ad-supported version, linear networks AMC, IFC, Sundance TV, BBC America, We TV and IFC Films, and Shudder.

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