AMC Global Media Inc.

Good day, everyone, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the AMC Network's second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To participate, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear a message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, simply press star 11 again. Please be advised, that today's conference is being recorded. Now I will pass the call over to Nick Siebert, Vice President, Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to the AMC Network's second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Joining us this morning are Kristen 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 Network's 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. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Kristen.

Thank you, Nick, and thanks, everyone, for joining this morning. As we navigate a dynamic and complex media environment, we continue to find opportunities in a strategic plan built around programming, partnerships, and profitability. Key to this plan is the creation and curation of celebrated films and series and making them available to viewers wherever they might choose to watch. I'd like to note the significant progress we've made against one of our major strategic priorities, generating strong free cash flow. I'm pleased to report that just halfway through the year, we have already delivered $239 million of free cash flow, and we're well on our way to achieving our full-year guidance for this important metric. This is the result of our prudent and disciplined financial management of the business. Our overall strategic approach is evident in our new branded distribution partnership with Netflix, featuring prior seasons of 15 AMC shows on the number one streaming platform in the world. This non-exclusive licensing agreement will give the vast U.S. audience of Netflix subscribers access to our high-quality, critically acclaimed content with the AMC brand clearly represented. We believe that finding a bigger stage for our shows will be a big win for our own platforms and existing distribution partners. Years ago, Breaking Bad demonstrated the power of Netflix to help build awareness and interest in a series that was still launching new seasons on AMC. We're looking forward to seeing our core franchises and most important current shows tap into this same powerful engine for audience expansion. Unique partnerships like this demonstrate that AMC Networks is an innovative and nimble company, unencumbered by the constraints and limited options facing others in our industry. We have the freedom to work with anyone, and we have a continued commitment to nurturing strong brands and quality storytelling supported by a sustainable and predictable wholesale business model. In addition to new content partnerships, we're growing distribution of our linear networks and AMC Plus through new internet-delivered skinny bundles. During the quarter, we expanded our partnership with Philo, which launched the ad-supported version of AMC Plus in their new core package, and the response from consumers has been tremendous, with consistent week-over-week subscriber gains since the launch in June. Additionally, all of our linear networks, including BBC News, are part of Optimum's new Entertainment TV package, demonstrating the continued strength of our networks in this evolving environment. Viewership of our branded channels in the increasingly important FAST and AVOD categories continues to grow. We now have 18 FAST channels live on 11 platforms, totaling 114 active channel feeds to supplement our linear reach. We are also implementing our partnership strategy internationally. making our high-quality content available to viewers through licensing and distribution arrangements with top-tier partners in territories beyond our own footprint. We've recently expanded AMC's brand presence in the UK through partnerships with Sky for the Walking Dead universe, the BBC for our Anne Rice Immortal universe, and ITV's ad-supporting streaming service, ITVX, which carries several of our branded AVOD offerings. In keeping with our wholesale approach, our belief in the power of partnerships and desire for financial predictability, we recently entered into an agreement with Comcast Technology Solutions to manage most of our content distribution domestically and around the world. With CTS as our comprehensive back-end solutions provider, we can leverage Comcast's scale and best-in-class technology to deliver our content much more effectively and economically than we can on our own. In terms of the advertising up front, I'm pleased with our performance as the market continues to transform. We've been able to leverage our well-defined and fan-focused networks to achieve favorable pricing and volume across linear and digital distribution. We continue to put high-quality shows on linear television, particularly AMC on Sundays and WE tv on Fridays, creating value for our advertising and affiliate partners. These examples underscore our position as a sought-after and desirable business partner across the industry, enabling us to expand and deepen our distribution and advertising alliances. Our content drove several operational and programming highlights in the quarter, which I'll share before I turn the call over to Patrick for a more detailed look at our financials. The strong performances of The Walking Dead, The Ones Who Live, and the second season of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, both of which received enormous critical acclaim, drove AMC Plus to achieve all-time highs in viewership this quarter. The penultimate episode of Interview, a trial with a devastating outcome, has become a fan favorite and instant classic. We have renewed Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire and The Walking Dead's Daryl Dixon for third seasons. Both series were part of our very loud and exciting presence at Comic-Con in late July. We were thrilled with the response from our engaged fans at this event, which is an important annual focal point for our company and programming franchises. In other programming news, we recently greenlit a third Anne Rice series focused on a secretive society called the Talamasca and announced a new series from AMC Studios set inside the bubble of Silicon Valley from Jonathan Gladser, a sought-after writer who previously worked on Better Call Saul and Succession. Horror films from IFC and Shudder were also represented at Comic-Con. I would like to recognize the incredible year we are having with films in the horror genre. With titles like Late Night with the Devil, In a Violent Nature, VHS 85, and others, we have dominated top 10 lists and further solidified these brands as being synonymous with the very best in horror, both at the box office and on streaming. This level of fan credibility and community is the foundation upon which all our targeted services are built. and demonstrates our strength and unique value proposition. It is worth noting that in the second quarter, both Acorn TV and our High Dive Anime service implemented price increases with an insignificant impact on churn due to our highly engaged and brand loyal subscribers. On WeTV, our new music competition show, Deb's House, was a strong performer for both the linear network and our all-black streaming service. The strength of originals such as Love After Lockup franchise Deb's House, and Mama June have solidified WeTV's standing as the number one cable network on Friday nights for black adults 25 to 54 and black women 25 to 54. We're also very excited to see the return of the Braxtons, one of the founding families of reality television, with a new series premiering tonight. In addition to supporting our great content, we continue to drive profitability by refining our organization and operations. Under the leadership of Stephanie Michko, our EVP of Global Media Operations and Technology, we're in the midst of a global transformation to streamline functions and modernize content distribution across all platforms, both domestically and internationally, which we realized through our new agreement with Comcast Technology Solutions. We've also reorganized our programming and scheduling teams into a consolidated unit across all brands and platforms. Under our CMO, Kim Granito, we've optimized and integrated marketing, media, branding, research, and our award-winning content room efforts. As noted earlier, it is a dynamic and complex time in media. Even as much larger players are facing existential challenges, AMC Networks is successfully pursuing a strategy built on our proven ability to make great shows, to meet viewers wherever they are, and to find new ways to support and monetize our content in a fragmented world. With that, I'll turn the call over to Patrick.