Earnings Call Transcript - AMCX Q2 2025

Nicholas Seibert, SVP, Corporate Development and Investor Relations

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the AMC Networks Second Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. Joining us this morning are Kristin Dolan, Chief Executive Officer; Patrick O'Connell, Chief Financial Officer; Kim Kelleher, Chief Commercial Officer; and Dan McDermott, President of Entertainment and AMC Studios. Today's press release is available on our website at amcnetworks.com. We will begin with prepared remarks, and then we'll open the call for questions. Today's call may include certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ. Please refer to AMC Networks' SEC filings for a discussion of risks and uncertainties. The company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements made on this call today. We will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. The required definitions and reconciliations can be found in today's press release. And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Kristin.

Kristin Aigner Dolan, CEO

Thank you, Nick, and good morning, everyone. We continue to execute our clear strategic plan focused on programming, partnerships, and profitability as we manage AMC Networks through this period of change in our industry. I'm pleased with the progress we've made in the first half of the year. In the second quarter, streaming revenue growth accelerated. We saw strong licensing performance and generated $96 million of free cash flow. In light of these positive results, we are raising our free cash flow outlook to approximately $250 million for the full year. In addition, we recently completed important financing transactions, which Patrick will discuss in more detail. We expect that the retirement of our debt at a significant discount will create meaningful shareholder value. I'd like to spend a moment discussing a core competency that differentiates AMC Networks, which is our ability to build and grow fan communities around our high-quality content. This is the goal of every company in media, and our success in this regard spans our linear networks, programming franchises, targeted streaming services, and film business. Two weeks ago, we were at San Diego Comic-Con, the biggest fan event in the world and a major annual priority for our company. Our Walking Dead and Anne Rice universes and for the first time, our Shudder streaming service were well represented. Active fan relationships drive our company and also deliver meaningful value to our distribution and advertising partners. It was powerful and affirming to see people lined up for hours to be terrified at our Shudder activation to watch Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride preview a new season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon in Hall H or experience the cast of Interview with the Vampire entering Ballroom 20 to deafening applause. We've also approached streaming in a unique and fan-forward way, building a suite of targeted services that allow us to efficiently serve passionate fans of specific genres while achieving very high levels of engagement and loyalty. When a horror fan finds Shudder or someone who loves cozy mysteries discovers Acorn TV, something very powerful happens. They don't just add another platform to the pile; they subscribe to a service that quickly becomes their favorite. Our viewers-first strategy is designed to meet viewers wherever they are on every possible platform. The benefits of this approach are cascading across our business and allowing us to expand audiences by finding new viewers across linear, streaming, and CTV FAST. We have more than 20 domestic FAST channels today, which do more than just grow our digital ad business. They promote sampling and raise awareness and interest in our brands and franchises. They drive viewership on our linear networks and subscriptions on our streaming services. We're also adapting our success in FAST internationally. We're already seeing a great response to the three FAST channels we've launched in the U.K. and are adding three more this month. Later this year, we'll launch channels in markets across Central and Northern Europe, Iberia, and Latin America. We've been focused on expanding awareness and subscriber interest in the Acorn servicing brand, one of the world's first targeted streaming services. In the quarter, we celebrated our first Murder Mystery May, a new event that delivered the biggest month for Acorn ownership ever and achieved a multiyear high in subscriber acquisition. In addition to that effort, we developed a custom plan with a partner that successfully drove higher subscriber acquisition for the service. A new mystery series called Art Detectives, starring Stephen Moyer, premiered during the quarter and is now the #1 new series in Acorn history. Irish Blood, starring and executive produced by Alicia Silverstone, premieres next week, and a new Brooke Shields mystery goes into production next month. Shudder continues to cement its status as the premier brand for fans of horror and the supernatural, with the breakout success of Clown in a Cornfield. The film opened to critical acclaim in May and set a company record for opening weekend box office. We're looking forward to extending the film's momentum with its streaming debut today on AMC+ and Shudder. It's worth noting that during the quarter, we implemented rate events at both Acorn and Shudder and still saw year-over-year and sequential improvements in both our rate of churn and engagement across our streaming portfolio. All of our streaming services are still priced below $10 a month, which is increasingly rare today. I'd also like to call out the strong growth of our HIDIVE streaming service. Anime is a popular genre with a passionate and highly engaged fan base. We see a lot of potential for continued growth at HIDIVE. In terms of operational updates, we're very pleased with our performance in the current advertising upfront negotiations and the continued expansion of our digital ad business as more of our advertising partners embrace the power of reaching our viewers by buying across multiple platforms. We're tracking toward the same overall volume as last year while driving a 25%-plus increase in digital commitments, capitalizing on the innovation we've invested in over the last few years. Our commercial team leads the industry in key areas of innovation and attribution, and we see momentum as new currency opportunities are embraced by the marketplace. We're in advanced discussions with Netflix to extend and expand the innovative branded AMC collection content relationship we launched a year ago. We expect to provide a more specific update in the coming weeks. Let me just say, both companies have been very happy with the results that came from making prior seasons of many of our shows, including our biggest franchises, available to this enormous base of subscribers in the U.S. In terms of content licensing in general, we're seeing interest in our shows and franchises around the world. We saw strong performance in this category during the quarter, including continued demand for our content, the sale of our music catalog, as well as additional fees related to our development of Apple TV+ hit series Silo. This reinforces not only the value of our owned IP but also the versatility and breadth of AMC Studios assets and capabilities as we continue to develop premium content for our own platforms and opportunistically for other buyers. AI has become a significant focus generally and in media. We recently entered into a partnership with a company called Runway, a leader in the use of generative AI in entertainment, to leverage AI in our marketing and programming development. We've already begun using these tools to efficiently and quickly explore possibilities around certain storylines or locations, expanding the quality and volume of opportunity in these important areas. We'll have more to say on this and how we are using this new technology across marketing and programming in the coming months. Our work with Comcast Technology Solutions to standardize and streamline our back-office functions continues and crossed several important performance milestones in the last quarter. Just recently, we worked with CTS to expand the delivery of our content to an ever-increasing number of digital distribution partners. On the linear side, we fully transitioned origination for our LatAm channels as well as disaster recovery services for our North American channels. This meaningful progress positions us well for the technical challenges associated with the rapidly evolving media distribution landscape. We're looking forward to a third season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, which will premiere in September, and the arrival of a third series in our Anne Rice universe, Talamasca: The Secret Order, later this fall. Our size, independence, and unified organizational structure serve our company, our partners, and of course, our viewers extremely well in this changing time in media. We've done the hard internal work to ensure that our employees are empowered, focused, and clear on our strategy, which gives us the ability to move quickly, intelligently, and decisively to seize new opportunities. We are managing this business in a thoughtful and strategic way as we continue to build franchises and entertain fans. And now I'll turn the call over to Patrick.

Patrick O’Connell, CFO

Thank you, Kristin. We are pleased to report another quarter of healthy free cash flow generation, with second quarter free cash flow totaling $96 million. On the heels of the strong cash flow generation in the first half of the year, we've increased our outlook and now anticipate approximately $250 million of free cash flow for 2025. I'll have more to share on this when I reiterate the rest of our full-year outlook later in my remarks. On to our consolidated results. Second quarter consolidated net revenue declined 4% year-over-year to $600 million. Favorability in foreign exchange rates resulted in an approximately 60 basis point tailwind to our consolidated revenue growth rate. Consolidated AOI declined 28% to $109 million with an 18% margin, and adjusted EPS was $0.69 per share. I'll now review our segment results. Domestic Operations revenue decreased 2% to $527 million. Subscription revenue decreased 1% due to a 12% decline in affiliate revenue, partly offset by streaming revenue growth of 12%. Streaming subscribers grew 2% year-over-year and sequentially, and we ended the second quarter with 10.4 million streaming subscribers. Streaming revenue growth in the quarter benefited from the implementation of recent rate initiatives. Despite two price increases in the second quarter, we still saw year-over-year and sequential improvement in retention and engagement across our portfolio of streaming services. In July, we implemented a $1 rate event at HIDIVE, and performance to date at this service is encouraging, with retention tracking in line with our expectations. With all planned rate events for the year now in flight, we anticipate an acceleration in quarterly streaming revenue growth as the year progresses, and we continue to expect our full-year streaming revenue growth rate will be in the low to mid-teens. For the second quarter, Domestic Operations advertising revenue decreased 18% year-over-year due to linear ratings declines and lower marketplace pricing, including lower digital CPMs. The ad market remains challenging for everyone, but we remain encouraged by our upfront performance, the strength of our programming, and our significant advanced and digital advertising capabilities. Content licensing revenue was $84 million for the quarter, reflecting the timing and availability of deliveries in the period. Our second quarter results reflected continued healthy demand for our high-quality content, including the sale of our music catalog and executive producer fees related to the Apple TV+ series Silo, as you know, licensing revenues often vary quarter-to-quarter due to the timing of agreements and delivery schedules. Regarding the quarterly cadence of licensing revenue, we anticipate that the third quarter will represent the lowest licensing revenue quarter for the year, and that revenue will pick back up in the fourth quarter. This is typical timing variability, driven by the cadence of our delivery schedule. We continue to anticipate approximately $250 million of Domestic Operations content licensing revenue for the year. Domestic Operations AOI was $126 million for the quarter, representing a decrease of 19%. The decrease in AOI was largely driven by continued linear revenue headwinds. Streaming and content licensing revenue strength provided a partial offset in the second quarter. Moving to our International segment. Second quarter International revenues were $76 million. Excluding prior-period advertising revenues related to a retroactive adjustment and the favorable impact of foreign exchange in the current period, International revenues decreased 6%. Subscription revenue, excluding FX, decreased 9% due to the nonrenewal with Movistar in Spain, which occurred in the fourth quarter of 2024. Advertising revenue, excluding the prior-period retroactive adjustment and the favorable FX impact in the current period, increased 2%. The International AOI for the second quarter was $15 million with a 20% margin. Excluding the prior period adjustment and the beneficial FX impact in the current period, International AOI decreased 15%. Moving to the balance sheet. The strength of our balance sheet remains a focus as we reduce gross debt and extend maturities. Proactive and prudent management of our balance sheet provides improved flexibility today and in the future while allowing us to focus on the continued evolution of our business. We believe that our securities offer attractive opportunities to deploy cash opportunistically across the capital structure to create meaningful equity value. So far this year, total debt reduction has exceeded $400 million. This includes the retirement of $699 million of our unsecured senior notes due 2029 at a significant discount to par and the early prepayment of $90 million of our Term Loan A. Through July, we've captured approximately $138 million of debt discount. Adjusting for transactions that closed in July, we ended the quarter with pro forma net debt of approximately $1.3 billion and a consolidated net leverage ratio of 2.7x, a reduction from 2.9x in the previous quarter. We have $875 million of total liquidity, including approximately $700 million of pro forma cash on the balance sheet and our undrawn $175 million revolver. During the second quarter, we repurchased 1.6 million shares of our Class A common stock for approximately $10 million. As of June 30, we had $125 million remaining on our current authorization. On the topic of capital allocation, our philosophy remains consistent. First, we look to support the business by creating and acquiring compelling programming that resonates with our audiences while maintaining healthy levels of cash flow generation. Second, we remain focused on reducing gross debt and extending debt maturities. Lastly, M&A, share repurchases, and dividends will be opportunistic and measured and remain further down our priority list. Moving to our 2025 outlook, we remain confident in our ability to drive free cash flow. As I mentioned earlier, we've raised our free cash flow outlook and now anticipate approximately $250 million of free cash flow for the year. Our increased outlook contemplates our strong year-to-date cash flow performance, efficiency in our programming, and cash tax savings largely related to full interest deductibility from the One Big Beautiful Bill. We continue to expect consolidated revenue of approximately $2.3 billion, reflecting continued linear headwinds, partially offset by increasingly meaningful streaming growth and continue to expect consolidated AOI in the range of $400 million to $420 million. We continue to anticipate year-over-year increases in technical and operating expenses as well as increased SG&A expenses, largely driven by streaming-related marketing. Regarding the quarterly cadence of AOI for the remainder of the year, due to the timing of revenue, including content licensing, we anticipate the AOI in the third quarter represent the low point for the year. The fourth quarter will be the first full quarter reflecting all 2025 price increases at our streaming services. We expect fourth quarter AOI will benefit from accelerating streaming revenue growth and the timing of content licensing revenues. As such, in absolute dollar terms, we expect fourth quarter AOI to be consistent with second quarter AOI. While the operating environment remains ever-changing, we remain highly focused on the variables within our control. We continue to execute our consistent strategy of making great content, distributing that content broadly, generating meaningful free cash flow, and being prudent with how we allocate our capital. We are well-capitalized with a large cash balance, a long-term view of the business, and a clear strategic plan. At the same time, we are nimble and opportunistic as we create and curate the high-quality content that engages fans and build valuable franchises.

Nicholas Seibert, SVP, Corporate Development and Investor Relations

Thanks, Patrick. Operator, we'll now move to the Q&A portion of the call.

Operator, Operator

One moment for our first question, which will come from Thomas Yeh of Morgan Stanley. Thomas, your line is open.

Thomas L. Yeh, Analyst

Can you dig into the source of the free cash flow upside a little bit more relative to the reiteration of revenue and EBITDA? It sounded like Patrick, you mentioned cash tax savings is a driver. Any changes to cash spending in the roughly $1 billion zone and working capital to help us bridge the gap?

Patrick O’Connell, CFO

Thomas, thanks for the question. Yes, just unpacking the kind of increase in the free cash flow guide, a couple of factors. I would say the largest factor is the cash taxes. An offset to that was we did have some incremental cancellation of indebtedness income on which we pay tax on. But on a net basis, cash taxes is the largest component of guidance increase. I would say, second to that would be savings across some of our programming. Those were modest in relation to the cash tax savings, but still important. And sort of even more important than either of those two is the fact that the cash tax savings will sort of compound into '26 and '27 as we get sort of full interest deductibility going forward. Obviously, given our capital structure, that was an important component of that legislation for us. So not meaningful changes to the prior guidance in terms of cash programming spend. But in ranked order, it's the cash taxes first and the programming second.

Thomas L. Yeh, Analyst

Okay. That's super helpful. And if we benchmark relative to the original guidance across the revenue buckets at the beginning of the year, you reiterated content licensing and streaming. It seems like advertising is tracking a little worse and affiliate maybe a little bit better. As we think about the back half for those two, can you maybe just help us think about the trends on a year-over-year comparison basis and what we have been seeing recently continue?

Patrick O’Connell, CFO

We remain optimistic about the $2.3 billion total revenue forecast. The situation has been consistent over the past few quarters, with strong content licensing revenue. The market remains robust, and our content performs exceptionally well on our services and on other platforms. We continue to see solid performance in those markets, both domestically and internationally. While there is slight incremental strength in content licensing, advertising has shown a bit of weakness. We are very pleased with our relationships with our partners in the affiliate segment, and those agreements continue to be signed as expected. Therefore, I do not anticipate any significant changes to our initial guidance for the year. However, I would like to emphasize that we typically do not provide quarter-by-quarter updates on revenue line items. There are various methods to achieve the $2.3 billion target, and we are confident in our ability to reach it. Overall, I expect the trends observed previously to persist throughout the rest of the year.

Thomas L. Yeh, Analyst

Understood. And if I can squeeze one more in just on the Runway partnership and the puts and takes there, is it right to assume that you're allowing them to train off your content library and then in return, you can leverage these tools exclusively for yourself to empower you to do more efficient postproduction and preproduction? Maybe help us to frame through what the give and take is there.

Kristin Aigner Dolan, CEO

Runway serves as a helpful tool for us, enabling ideation. Since the content belongs to us, our aim is to provide the best resources for our creative teams. They are using Runway to visualize ideas, including set designs and shots that would typically exceed our budget, like an oil rig shoot or an aerial view of a shipwreck. The goal is to broaden our creative opportunities, ensure alignment, and visualize concepts more quickly. We've seen some successes, and Dan might have specific examples to share. Runway is a valuable partner, but we utilize them primarily to enhance our creative efforts. Their technology supports us, but it doesn't integrate directly with our intellectual property or the content we've developed.

Dan McDermott, President of Entertainment and AMC Studios

Yes, I'll just add to that, Thomas. I mean, I'd just say, look, the business has been integrating emerging technologies into the development and production of shows and films since the advent of the talkies. And as Kristin has mentioned and driven us over the last couple of years, we are an early adopter in the fast-moving space of deploying AI in the service of generative visualization. So we are using them to help us ideate, come up with concepts, ideas, help our showrunners visualize what they want to do, where they want to do it. And then in the realm of postproduction, we're able to save a considerable amount of money across our 30 to 50 episodes of television a year because generative AI is so good right now, it delivers 4K imagery, priced at anywhere from 20% to 40% of what traditional VFX is. And we're not displacing any of these people either. I wanted to be really clear that all of our efforts live clearly and cleanly within the parameters established by all the guilds. We're committed to the principle that everything we do is in support of the people that make these great shows possible, and we're literally just giving them tools that will enhance their ability to do the great work they do.

Operator, Operator

Our next question will be coming from John Hodulik of UBS.

John Christopher Hodulik, Analyst

A couple of more details on the top line. First, given the strength you've seen in streaming, do you think subscription revenue growth can grow sustainably from here? And then any more details you can tell us on the sort of ad trends or the ad market? Specifically, what are you seeing in terms of pricing from the linear side and the CTV side? We've heard about some pressure on general entertainment advertising in both sides. And just any color that you're seeing and what you expect for the second half of the year would be great.

Patrick O’Connell, CFO

Great. John, it's Patrick. I'll take the streaming and Kim will take the advertising. Listen, we feel really good about the acceleration on the streaming side, both in terms of price and units, right? And so we've had some amazing success with some of the recent programming both on Acorn and on HIDIVE that really resonate with audiences. And so we're seeing kind of attractive upticks and kind of subscribers there. Could always do better, but we like what we see, particularly the last couple of quarters on those two platforms. In terms of the economics of the business, really important to note that we've done a handful of price increases across our platform with really attractive sort of net results, and we're seeing sort of a very, very modest impact to sort of gross adds, churn, etc. So the metrics continue to hold up really well. We've got some nice pricing power here. You're going to see that compound through the balance of the year into Q3 and Q4, obviously, beyond. So we feel really good about that, and we expect that, that streaming revenue will continue to accelerate into the back half of the year.

Kristin Aigner Dolan, CEO

And John, just to note, I think it was in our remarks, but just to reiterate that streaming revenue will be our largest single revenue component this year. So it's going where we need it to go. And then, Kim, on advertising?

Kimberly Kelleher, Chief Commercial Officer

Sure. I want to emphasize Kristin's comments regarding the strength of our upfront this year, which is likely the most significant indicator of advertising trends. We're looking at nearly flat year-over-year volume while achieving over a 25% boost in our digital revenue. All indicators suggest positive momentum as we move forward. The upfront takes place in October of this year and continues into next year. Additionally, our teams are leaders in the national linear addressable market. This increases the value of our inventory by enhancing its appeal to advertisers through superior targeting. We are focusing on directing our inventory from virtual and traditional MVPDs as well as the CTV space. Our partnerships are cross-platform, and the overall value increases with the enhanced targeting features in the Audience+ tool we launched nearly two years ago.

Operator, Operator

And our next question will be coming from Charles Wilber of Guggenheim Securities.

Charles Howard Wilber, Analyst

I appreciate the detail on the upfront there. Just wanted to ask, could you share any kind of incremental color on particular areas of success, whether verticals or particular shows or content style or platforms or audience segments that are kind of working best for you? And then secondly, on the International FAST expansions, any cost or limitations on how quickly you can roll these out? And then, how you're thinking about the return profiles and the contribution timing from these?

Kimberly Kelleher, Chief Commercial Officer

It's Kim again. I want to mention that we saw significant growth in our quick service restaurant and fast casual categories. Financials are up, and both food and retail have improved as well. These sectors showed positive performance in the second quarter of this year, and we will keep an eye on them moving forward. However, the automotive sector has faced challenges for several consecutive quarters, and we are making a concerted effort to improve in that area. In terms of opportunities, we are continuing to expand our digital inventory, which I mentioned in my previous response. We see this as the future due to the advanced targeting capabilities that result in higher CPMs. Therefore, we are positioning ourselves for what's ahead.

Kristin Aigner Dolan, CEO

We're currently up to 28 FAST channels across 21 platforms globally, which amounts to 190 FAST feeds. We've been increasingly forming partnerships with OEMs, CTV providers, and other distribution partners. For example, we launched 11 FAST channels with TCL in May and introduced two new domestic channels, Acorn TV Mysteries and Love After Lockup, with select partners and more on the way. Internationally, we launched The Walking Dead by AMC FAST channel in Latin America, including Brazil, which is a significant market for FAST. We see substantial opportunities here, particularly since we retain the sales rights, allowing our digital inventory to expand with the addition of more FAST channels. On the technology side, we've completed the migration to CTS, consolidating our assets on servers with a backup system. This allows us to take advantage of our assets when creating different channels, whether they are temporary or ongoing, based on effectiveness or seasonal and regional needs. FAST represents a remarkable digital platform, enabling us to leverage our extensive library of content to generate engaging content around the world.

Operator, Operator

Thank you. And our next question will be coming from David Joyce of Seaport Research Partners.

David Carl Joyce, Analyst

A little bit more detail, please, on the contribution to the streaming subs and advertising from, I guess, the renewals that you inked with your distributors in the past year, where they're kind of making your streaming service more available. What's that done for the subscriber and advertising trends?

Kristin Aigner Dolan, CEO

David, I'm sorry, did you mean advertising revenue? Or are you just asking about success so far with the FILOs and the spectrum constructs?

David Carl Joyce, Analyst

Yes, both. What those new relationships have done for the advertising trajectory? What they're doing for advertising for you? And how they supported your subscriber growth?

Kristin Aigner Dolan, CEO

We have always appreciated the Charter model and the Spectrum model. We've collaborated closely with their team to ensure that subscribers who have AMC+ as part of their TV select package are activating it. We're doing well and are either keeping pace with or outpacing some of the other options available to Spectrum subscribers. Our partnership with Charter has been strong, and they've done an excellent job growing their subscriber base. I receive frequent reminders about my entitlements, and we are very happy with the volume, take rate, and engagement from those subscribers. Additionally, with FILO, we have integrated AMC+ with our core linear channels. On the advertising side, while we have ad-supported versions of AMC+, it is still early to assess the overall impact of these bundled subscribers in terms of advertising. Kim, would you like to add anything to that?

Kimberly Kelleher, Chief Commercial Officer

I think that we will see it accrue over time, absolutely in an additive way, but it is a multi-revenue opportunity for growth.

Nicholas Seibert, SVP, Corporate Development and Investor Relations

Our last question will be coming from Steven Cahall of Wells Fargo.

Steven Lee Cahall, Analyst

Yes, so I'm sure you all have noticed that some of the media peers have been looking to split up their cable distribution assets from their content assets. And I imagine this is a question that you all have taken internally as well. You have a very successful studio, as we see from your licensing revenue. And then there's a lot of pressure on your revenue and AOI from the linear distribution part. So I guess, how are you thinking about that opportunity? You've been active in the debt market as well. So would just love any color there. And then maybe just back to capital allocation, so you bought back some stock in the quarter. Patrick, I think you said that your priorities haven't changed, which is still content over buybacks. So there's always scope to invest in more content to drive future value. How should we think about when buybacks come into the picture?

Patrick O’Connell, CFO

Great. Steven, it's Patrick. I'll address them in reverse order. Firstly, regarding capital allocation, as you noted, our philosophy remains the same. The modest $10 million buyback should be viewed in the context of other capital market activities we've engaged in over the last few quarters, such as reducing net leverage by 0.25 turn, given the discount we captured in our recent actions. More importantly, we are extending the duration of our balance sheet, particularly with the new $400 million secured issue due in 2032. We feel confident about the work we’ve done to position the company for long-term financial success through our balance sheet. Therefore, I would consider the capital allocation in light of these recent activities. However, when you observe that the free cash flow yield on the stock is 90%, it appears extremely undervalued. We also see potential opportunities throughout the capital structure, some of which we've already capitalized on by capturing further discounts. There may be more opportunities in the future, and we will remain attentive to those. Regarding your first question about the asset composition of the business, it's essential to emphasize this point as it may not be as well understood, especially considering we have several spin-offs coming that center around our cable network business, which is fundamentally different at AMC. We have a studio and a significant streaming business. By 2025, streaming revenue is projected to be our largest revenue source. There's a wealth of intellectual property within this company. Furthermore, we possess an impressive portfolio of streaming products that not only perform effectively on their own but also become even more powerful when combined. This is the thematic approach we take when considering the business as a whole. All our components work together to strengthen our overall position. We see ongoing opportunities to sell across our platform, as Kim mentioned, and to leverage our IP to enhance our business and also support others in monetizing it globally. At this stage, we believe we are well-positioned with an excellent set of assets, and we are dedicated to working collaboratively.

Operator, Operator

And I'm showing no further questions. I would now like to turn the call back to Kristin for closing remarks.

Kristin Aigner Dolan, CEO

Great. Thank you, operator. I'd like to close by saying it's a changing and sometimes challenging time in media. But as we discussed this morning, we're finding strength and opportunity in a clear strategic plan focused on programming, partnerships, and profitability. I'm pleased with our results this quarter and our prospects for the remainder of the year, including a higher reforecast for free cash flow, which is, as everyone knows, one of our major ongoing priorities. So between that and the return of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon next month, the expansion of our Anne Rice universe later this year, and our continued strong activity at Acorn, Shudder, HIDIVE across the portfolio of targeted streaming services, we think we're in pretty good shape. So we want to thank everybody again for joining us and for your continued interest in AMC Networks. And with that, we'll end the call.

Operator, Operator

And this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.