MUMBAI: AMC Networks International (AMCNI) has expanded its portfolio of globally renowned, locally relevant 24/7 linear television services across EMEA, the CIS, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific regions.
AMC Global, AMCNI’s international AMC-branded television network seen in over 115 countries and territories, continues to experience major growth around the world since the company launched the brand for the first time outside of North America late last year.
Distributor demand for the network is underscored by substantial first window programming acquisitions, including the upcoming premieres of Fear The Walking Dead, Into the Badlands and the new season of Halt and Catch Fire. Each series will debut on AMC Global less than 24 hours after the US premiere.
“AMC Networks International has experienced record-breaking growth with new distribution agreements on subscription television platforms around the world,” commented AMC Networks International executive vice president of global distribution Ed Palluth.
“There is clear and strong demand for our line-up of globally renowned, locally relevant channels with many platform operators adding or repositioning our services onto their basic tiers in recent months to make them widely available to customers. AMC and Sundance Channel Global remain among the first choice of operators looking to offer a wide selection of exclusive original dramas, and we’re particularly excited about the debut of series such as Fear The Walking Dead, Badlands, and the new season of Halt and Catch Fire less than 24 hours after the US premiere,” added Palluth.
In Latin America, Axtel in Mexico has launched the entire AMCNI portfolio of channels for the first time, including AMC, Sundance Channel, elgourmet, Europa Europa and Film & Arts. AMC has launched in Brazil for the first time on several cable TV systems that are members of Neo TV following the network’s debut on SKY earlier this month. AMC has also launched for the first time on multiple pay-TV platforms in Uruguay including TCC, Montecable, Nuevo Siglo and Equital. Tigo platforms throughout the region have launched or repositioned AMC on the basic tier. Casa Club TV was launched on Red Intercable in Argentina for the first time and is available on the basic tier. Sundance Channel continues to gain momentum across Latin America with launches on many new platforms, including Cablevision and Supercanal in Argentina, among others. In addition, Movistar TV has repositioned AMC to the basic tier in Colombia.
In Central Europe, Slovak Telekom in Slovakia has launched Sundance Channel for the first time and Sport1 HD to complement the SD service. Skylink in the Czech Republic and Slovakia has moved Sport2 to the basic tier doubling the subscriber count. Both Skylink and Slovak Telekom have extended the entire AMCNI portfolio carriage through multi-year agreements.
Additionally, AMC has been repositioned to the basic tier in Hungary on Magyar Telekom and Tarr. AMC Hungary’s subscriber count has almost doubled since the MGM rebrand. New multi-year agreements for AMC have been signed with several operators in CEE including PR-Telecom in Hungary and Telekom Serbia.
In addition, AMCNI recently rebranded MGM’s SD channel as AMC across all its systems in the CIS and the Baltics including on MTS, Rostelecom, Beeline and NTV + in Russia. Across Africa, the company recently announced the first-ever launch of Eva, a new telenovela channel, on the DStv platform owned by MultiChoice. In the UK, it was recently announced that Horror Channel launched on Freeview resulting in 90 per cent DTT coverage. Horror Channel is already the second largest FTA movie channel in cable and satellite homes due to carriage deals with Sky and Virgin.
In the Asia-Pacific region, audiences in Taiwan can now see Sundance Channel on Asia Pacific Telecom. PPCTV in Cambodia recently launched Sundance Channel, and Sansar Cable in Mongolia will launch the network soon. This follows the recent announcement that Singtel TV in Singapore launched AMC for the first time.
