Dear Members in the NCTC – AMC Networks Agreement,
We have completed a renewal of the NCTC – AMC Networks Agreement. This agreement includes the right to distribute the AMC Networks – AMC, WE tv, IFC, SundanceTV, BBC America and BBC News, through April 30, 2029. The opt-in deadline for the renewal agreement is July 1, 2025.
RATES: The rate structure will stay the same as it is in the prior agreement – members pay a single rate per AMC Subscriber for all of the networks regardless of which networks are distributed and what package. The rate remains the same as it is now through August and then will decrease about 5% in September. The rate will decrease again about 9% in January 2026. After that the rate remains flat for a year and then increases at approximately 2% in each of 2028 and 2029. At the end of the term, the ending rate is approximately 10% less than the current rate.
LAUNCHES/MIGRATION: There are no new launch obligations for any members that participated in the prior agreement. Members have the right to migrate IFC, SundanceTV and BBC America to Digital Basic beginning September 1, 2025 (see agreement for important details), but keep in mind that, because of the rate structure, license fees will not change following migration.
EXCLUDED PACKAGE: The cap on Excluded Packages (i.e., retention packages, family tiers, skinny bundles, etc.) increases from 10% to 20%. IMPORTANT NOTE: Any member that has an Excluded Package should contact their Programming Account Manager to update their reporting for accurate invoicing.
AMC+: AMCN has granted rights for members to sell AMC+ to customers and bill for that offering. Members receive an ongoing revenue share (they pay AMCN 85% of retail each month). AMCN also has given each member a bucket of free AMC+ subs that they can use to distribute AMC+ to their video subscribers as a revenue generator, promotional offering or for no additional charge as part of a video package. There are many more details on this in the Agreement.
In order for members to take advantage of this, AMCN and NCTC need to work through a technical integration to allow members to authenticate AMC+ subscribers to the AMC+ App and operational details to bill and report for this distribution. We are already working on this, but it will take some time. We will have more to report on this in the next few months.
DROPPING AMC NETWORKS: Despite the rate reductions, we know some members may still decide to drop the AMC Networks. You should consider your specific circumstances to determine if opting in to this renewal makes sense for your company. As we have mentioned before, there is less original and exclusive content on the AMC Networks than there used to be and much of their content (or similar content) is available on their own direct-to-consumer services or other linear networks and streaming services. Approximately 35 members dropped AMC Networks during our last renewal and, from what we have heard, saw very little customer disruption.
If your company decides that it would like to drop AMC Networks, we have drop materials available for you, link provided in the sidebar. You will still need to make a renewal election by selecting the appropriate option to drop the content and provide an effective date.
REVIEW/OPT-IN: Please review the agreement and summary by logging into our website, www.nctconline.org and navigating to your Dashboard > Agreements Library > AMC Networks. If you have questions as you review the documents, please contact your NCTC Programming Account Manager.
Once you have reviewed the agreement, please make your renewal election by July 1, 2025.
Renewal Instructions:
- Log on to www.nctconline.org.
- Navigate to your Dashboard, scroll to the Tools section, and click on Renewals.
- Find the Network that you would like to Renew and click Start.
- Review the participation agreement and choose your participation election – ‘YES’ to renew, or ‘NO’ not to renew.
- If ‘YES’, then continue and submit election to NCTC.
- If ‘NO’, then select reason for not renewing and submit election to NCTC.
Thank you for your support during these negotiations.
The NCTC Programming Team
Dear Members in the NCTC – AMC Networks Agreement,
We have reached agreement with AMC Networks on the main business terms of a renewal agreement. We need a few more days to finalize the long-form agreement and get the necessary approvals to sign the agreement, so we have extended the current agreement for a week through May 7, 2025. We will notify you when the agreement is signed and available for your review and opt-in.
If you have any feedback or questions regarding this agreement, please email NegotiationSupport@nctconline.org.
Thank you for your support.
NCTC Programming Team
Dear Members in the NCTC – AMC Networks Agreement,
We are continuing negotiations with AMC Networks for a renewal of the NCTC Agreement that is expiring this week. AMC Networks has made some meaningful moves on the rates and agreement terms in the past couple of days. We are not quite where we think the rates should be, but we are continuing to negotiate and are hopeful that we can come to an agreement that works for most of our members.
With that being said, we are not sure that we can complete the long-form agreement and get all necessary approvals by Wednesday so we may enter into a short extension to allow us time to finalize these details. We will let you know if/when we do that so that you are aware.
If your company is planning to drop AMC Networks on April 30th regardless of what the final terms are of the renewal, you may proceed with those plans. Please notify your Programming Account Manager if you know that your company plans to drop AMC Networks on April 30th. However, if you would prefer to review the terms before making a decision whether or not to renew, you will have time to review the agreement once completed and ample time to make a decision as to whether you want to continue to participate in the renewal.
We know that the terms of this new agreement will likely not work for all members given the changes to AMC Networks’ programming and the relative cost of those networks. We have prepared some messaging and materials to help you in the event your company chooses to drop AMC Networks. You can download the toolkit from the sidebar.
We will keep you updated as our negotiations progress. In the meantime, if you have questions or comments about this renewal, please reach out to us at NegotiationSupport@nctconline.org.
As always, thank you for your support.
The NCTC Programming Team
Dear Members in the NCTC – AMC Networks Agreement,
With the expiration of the NCTC – AMC Networks Agreement coming up in a couple of weeks, we are working hard on the renewal. AMC is engaged in the negotiations, and they have made some meaningful moves on the rates in an effort to come to an agreement. The negotiations are not contentious, however, we feel strongly that because the value of the AMC Networks has changed significantly since our last renewal, then the deal points and, in particular, the rates and packaging obligations, need to change in a similar manner. We are not yet close to the value that we feel we need to complete an agreement.
The AMC Networks no longer have the original and exclusive content that they once had, and their viewership has suffered drastically as a result. In fact, when The Walking Dead was at the peak of its popularity on AMC, as many as 17 million customers watched an episode, but the most recent episode of one of the current spin-off shows of The Walking Dead had less than 500,000 viewers. Unfortunately, the networks are primarily re-runs of older sit-coms, procedural dramas and movies, most of which is available on multiple other networks.
We continue to negotiate and are hopeful that we can reach agreement before the end of April when the agreement expires. But we will not complete an agreement if we do not feel like the cost of the networks reflects the value that the networks provide. Of course we will keep you updated. We don’t believe you need to take any actions at this time, but we want you to be prepared in the event that changes.
We know some members are planning to drop AMC Networks no matter the outcome of the negotiations and, we have prepared messaging and materials to support those members. Those same materials can be used for any drop scenario, whether that drop is your company’s choice after reviewing the terms of a renewal or if NCTC is not able to complete an agreement.
We will keep you updated as our negotiations progress. In the meantime, if you have questions or comments about this renewal, please reach out to us at NegotiationSupport@nctconline.org.
As always thank you for your support!
The NCTC Programming Team
Dear Members in the NCTC – AMC Networks Agreement,
The agreement between NCTC and AMC Networks expires on April 30, 2025. This agreement includes rights to distribute the following networks: AMC, We TV, IFC, SundanceTV, BBC America and BBC World News. We are in the early stages of negotiating a renewal with AMC Networks and will provide you with more details as our negotiations progress.
As we negotiate this renewal and as Members consider their distribution of the AMC Networks, there are several things to factor into your analysis. First, the ratings for the AMC Networks have declined by about 50% as compared to 2019. In 2019 their very popular series “The Walking Dead” was in the middle of its run. Our last renewal was negotiated in 2021, which was just before the final season of The Walking Dead. Currently, only 2 of their networks break into the Top 50 most watched networks, AMC at #35 and We TV at #37.
Second, AMC offers substantially all, if not all, of their original content in one of their many direct-to-consumer subscription streaming apps, including AMC+, Sundance Now and IFC Films Unlimited. Most of their original series premiere on the DTC product at the same time as the premiere of the series on their linear networks. The DTC products start at about $6.99 for the ad-supported offering, which is higher than the current license fees members are paying monthly for the AMC Networks, but given the decreased viewership of the AMC Networks, members are paying license fees for a lot of customers who aren’t watching the networks. The DTC option allows customers who are superfans of a show or two on AMC Networks the ability to continue to subscribe to the DTC app to watch their shows.
Also, the number of original shows that AMC is producing is greatly reduced from the prior two renewals NCTC completed. In fact, the large majority (and almost all for some networks) of the programming on the networks in a given day are repeats of older movies, sit-coms (like Two and a Half Men and Everybody Loves Raymond) and dramas (like Law & Order and NCIS). This type of programming is widely available on many other networks that you currently carry on your lineup.
We encourage you to look closely at any viewership information you have available to you to determine how much your customers are actually watching the AMC Networks. It may not make sense to continue to distribute these networks, especially in light of AMC’s DTC offering for superfans of their few original series. If NCTC is able to reach agreement with AMC, your best option may still be to discontinue distribution of these networks. Many members dropped AMC Networks during that last renewal and have not relaunched. We will have resources available for members who choose not to continue distribution.
We will keep you informed as our negotiations progress. In the meantime, if you have questions or comments about this renewal, please reach out to us at NegotiationSupport@nctconline.org.
As always, thank you for your support.
NCTC Programming Group