AMC Networks Inc (Pre-Reincorporation) (AMCX) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the AMC Networks, Inc. Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 AMC Networks, Inc. 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

And I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. Nicholas Seibert, Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Sir, please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給今天的發言人，企業發展和投資者關係副總裁尼古拉斯·塞伯特先生。先生，請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the AMC Networks Third Quarter 2023 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.

謝謝。早安，歡迎參加 AMC Networks 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。今天早上加入我們的是執行長 Kristin Dolan；派崔克‧奧康奈爾，財務長； Kim Kelleher，商務長；以及娛樂和 AM​​C 工作室總裁 Dan McDermott。

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.

今天的新聞稿可在我們的網站 amcnetworks.com 上取得。我們將從準備好的發言開始，然後開始提問。

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.

今天的電話會議可能包括1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的某些前瞻性陳述。任何此類前瞻性陳述都不是對未來業績或結果的保證，並且涉及可能導致實際結果有所不同的風險和不確定性。

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.

請參閱 AMC Network 向 SEC 提交的文件，以了解有關風險和不確定性的討論。本公司不承擔更新本次電話會議中所做的任何前瞻性陳述的義務。今天，我們將討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標。所需的定義和調節可以在今天的新聞稿中找到。

With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Kristin.

說到這裡，我想把電話轉給克莉絲汀。

Thanks, Nick, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to begin today by sharing some strategic and operational highlights from the quarter that underscore our continued focus on 3 key areas: programming, partnerships, and profitability, which we believe are critical to the effective management of this company during a period of great change in our industry.

謝謝尼克，大家早安。今天我想先分享本季的一些策略和營運亮點，強調我們繼續關注 3 個關鍵領域：規劃、合作夥伴關係和獲利能力，我們認為這對於該公司在一段時間內的有效管理至關重要。我們的行業發生了巨大的變化。

Let's start with partnerships. As we look at AMC Networks and the current landscape around content monetization and distribution, we're arguably in a moment when the value and impact of partners has never been more important. And this applies to us, to the companies we partner with and to consumers.

讓我們從合作關係開始。當我們審視 AMC Networks 以及當前圍繞內容貨幣化和分發的格局時，可以說我們正處於合作夥伴的價值和影響力從未如此重要的時刻。這適用於我們、我們的合作夥伴以及消費者。

Our industry is undergoing a period of experimentation and innovation as consumer behaviors around content consumption continues to evolve. These changes are giving rise to new opportunities to collaborate with companies that have been long-standing partners and even those who until recently could have been viewed as competitors.

隨著圍繞內容消費的消費者行為不斷發展，我們的產業正經歷一段實驗和創新的時期。這些變化帶來了與長期合作夥伴甚至直到最近可能被視為競爭對手的公司合作的新機會。

Some of our partnerships are decades old, and some are very recent, but they are all critically important to our company in terms of what we can do and where we can go. For example, this fall, we partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery to put previous seasons of 7 of our original series on the Max streaming service for 2 months as a promotional pop-up designed to raise the visibility of shows and promote sampling.

我們的合作關係有些已有數十年歷史，有些則剛成立，但就我們能做什麼和能去往何處而言，它們對我們公司都至關重要。例如，今年秋天，我們與華納兄弟探索頻道合作，將我們原創劇集的前幾季放在 Max 串流服務上，為期 2 個月，作為促銷彈出窗口，旨在提高節目的知名度並推廣採樣。

This successful experiment just concluded, and it was affirming to see titles like A Discovery of Witches, Fear the Walking Dead, Dark Winds, and Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, consistently occupying multiple slots on Max's daily top 10 series list. And as we anticipated, we saw viewership and acquisition spikes for several shows on AMC+ as a result of the increased exposure on that.

這個成功的實驗剛結束，令人欣慰的是，《女巫的發現》、《陰屍路》、《暗風》和《安妮賴斯的夜訪吸血鬼》等作品連續佔據了麥克斯每日十大系列榜單的多個位置。正如我們預期的那樣，由於曝光度的增加，AMC+ 上幾部節目的收視率和收視率都出現飆升。

Partnering with another programmer in this way was a first for us, and our ability as a pure-play programmer to forge this kind of arrangement showcases many of our key strengths. We are nimble, adaptable, affordable, and very much complementary to other offerings.

以這種方式與另一位程式設計師合作對我們來說是第一次，作為純粹的程式設計師，我們有能力打造這種安排，這展示了我們的許多關鍵優勢。我們靈活、適應性強、價格實惠，並且與其他產品具有很強的互補性。

Given these attributes and the success we saw through working with Max, I'd say it's likely we will find imaginative new ways to work with other programmers in the future.

考慮到這些屬性以及我們透過與 Max 合作所取得的成功，我想說，我們將來很可能會找到與其他程式設計師合作的富有想像的新方法。

As far as established affiliate partners, we have long-standing and uniquely strong relationships that are rooted in our deliberate strategy to attend to and continually strengthen these partnerships, which again benefit from our unique characteristics, 3 of which include a small number of well-defined networks that are offered at a low wholesale rate; high-quality programming, which we continue to feature on basic cable even as others have moved their marquee scripted shows to premium or streaming platforms, chipping away at the value of the traditional cable bundle.

就已建立的附屬合作夥伴而言，我們擁有長期且獨特的牢固關係，這些關係植根於我們處理並不斷加強這些合作夥伴關係的深思熟慮的戰略，這再次受益於我們獨特的特徵，其中3 個包括少數良好的以低批發價提供的特定網路；高品質的節目，我們繼續在基本有線電視上提供優質節目，儘管其他人已將他們的字幕節目轉移到高級或串流媒體平台，從而削弱了傳統有線電視捆綁的價值。

Also, our collaboration on innovative distribution models like AMC+, which was originally launched in partnership with Comcast and DISH Network and is now carried by all major cable providers in the U.S.

此外，我們也與 AMC+ 等創新分銷模式進行合作，該模式最初是與 Comcast 和 DISH Network 合作推出，現在由美國所有主要有線電視供應商提供。

I have spent most of my career working as a cable operator. So these affiliate relationships are particularly important and familiar to me. As such, I'm quite excited by what Comcast and Charter are doing with Xumo, and the potential of the country's 2 largest cable companies with tens of millions of customer relationships across video, broadband, and phone to deliver a unified content offering to a new generation of customers.

我職業生涯的大部分時間都是作為有線電視營運商度過的。所以這些附屬關係對我來說特別重要和熟悉。因此，我對Comcast 和Charter 與Xumo 所做的事情感到非常興奮，也對國內最大的兩家有線電視公司在視訊、寬頻和電話領域擁有數千萬客戶關係向用戶提供統一內容的潛力感到非常興奮。新一代客戶。

It's also worth noting these companies have large customer service organizations that can pick up the phone, roll trucks, and solve problems, an increasingly novel concept today. We are pleased that our linear networks, streaming services, and several of our FAST channels are featured in Xumo, and we're very much looking forward to being a part of the offering and seeing where this powerful combination goes from here.

另外值得注意的是，這些公司擁有大型客戶服務組織，可以接聽電話、上門服務並解決問題，這在今天是一個越來越新穎的概念。我們很高興我們的線性網路、串流服務和幾個 FAST 頻道都出現在 Xumo 中，我們非常期待成為該產品的一部分，並看看這個強大的組合將走向何方。

Moving to programming. It was great to see that WGA strikes to come to an end last month, and we are hopeful SAG-AFTRA and the studios can also come together and reach an agreement soon. As we've mentioned on previous calls, we have a robust supply of completed shows to fill our schedule well into 2024.

轉向編程。很高興看到 WGA 罷工在上個月結束，我們希望 SAG-AFTRA 和工作室也能盡快達成協議。正如我們在之前的電話會議中提到的，我們擁有大量已完成的演出，可以滿足我們 2024 年的日程安排。

We have also secured interim agreements with SAG to complete production on second seasons of 2 of our marquee shows, Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. Both of these successful series are now back in production in Europe.

我們也與美國演員工會達成了臨時協議，以完成我們兩部熱門劇《安妮賴斯訪談吸血鬼》和《陰屍路：達裡爾迪克森》第二季的製作。這兩個成功的系列現在都在歐洲重新投入製作。

Our content continues to attract large and engaged fan bases, and I'll mention just a few examples. Season 1 of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon premiered during the quarter became the most viewed premiere in the history of AMC+, in addition to delivering strong viewership on AMC linear. Season 2 of this series will mark the return of a fan-favorite Carol played by Melissa McBride.

我們的內容繼續吸引大量活躍的粉絲群，我僅舉幾個例子。 《陰屍路：達裡爾迪克森》第一季在本季首播，成為 AMC+ 史上收視率最高的首播，此外還在 AMC 線性頻道上帶來了強勁的收視率。該劇第二季將標誌著深受粉絲喜愛的卡羅爾（由梅麗莎麥克布萊德飾演）的回歸。

Early next year, we will premiere the highly anticipated third new series in this growing universe, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, featuring Andy Lincoln and Danai Gurira as Rick and Michonne set in Philadelphia.

明年初，我們將在這個不斷發展的宇宙中首映備受期待的第三部新劇集《行屍走肉：活著的人》，由安迪林肯和達奈古里拉飾演瑞克和米瓊恩，故事發生在費城。

We just completed our annual FearFest programming event, which this year became a 2-month celebration of horror that ran across all of our linear networks and streaming services. This year's event was curated by our horror brand, Shudder, one of the strongest horror brands in the world, and Halloween was one of the biggest acquisition days in Shudder's history.

我們剛剛完成了一年一度的 FearFest 節目活動，今年該活動成為了為期 2 個月的恐怖慶祝活動，遍布我們所有的線性網路和串流服務。今年的活動是由我們的恐怖品牌 Shudder 策劃的，Shudder 是世界上最強大的恐怖品牌之一，萬聖節是 Shudder 歷史上最大的收購日之一。

The combination of FearFest and Shudder is a great example of the clear synergy between our targeted services and our linear networks, and demonstrates our ability to utilize our content across multiple platforms to serve our passionate fans the programming they love wherever and whenever they want it while maintaining the thoughtful curation that has become one of our core strengths in a crowded and confusing content environment.

FearFest 和Shudder 的結合是我們的目標服務和線性網路之間明顯協同作用的一個很好的例子，並展示了我們跨多個平台利用我們的內容為我們熱情的粉絲提供他們喜愛的節目的能力，無論他們何時何地想要它在擁擠和混亂的內容環境中保持深思熟慮的管理已成為我們的核心優勢之一。

WE tv launched a great new series for the latter part called Toya & Reginae, which saw linear viewership almost double over the course of the first season in its key demo and continues to perform remarkably well on our All Black streaming service.

WE tv 在後半部分推出了一部精彩的新劇集《Toya & Reginae》，在其關鍵演示中，第一季的線性收視率幾乎翻了一番，並且在我們的All Black 串流服務上繼續表現出色。

In terms of advertising, we continue to make great strides in expanding our revenue growth opportunities. During the quarter and ahead of schedule, we launched an ad-supported version of AMC+, which allows us to offer additional flexibility to subscribers and also offer advanced advertising across our entire distribution ecosystem.

在廣告方面，我們在擴大營收成長機會方面持續取得長足進步。在本季度，我們提前推出了 AMC+ 的廣告支援版本，這使我們能夠為訂戶提供額外的靈活性，並在整個發行生態系統中提供高級廣告。

This is incredibly important as we continue to forge relationships with advertisers that span both linear and digital platforms with the same high level of relevance and targeting in both distribution channels.

這非常重要，因為我們繼續與跨越線性和數位平台的廣告商建立關係，在兩個分銷管道中具有相同的高相關性和針對性。

Having an ad-supported version of AMC+ will also make it much easier for us to participate in innovative bundles that we believe will increasingly form the future of content distribution in the streaming space.

擁有廣告支援的 AMC+ 版本也將使我們更容易參與創新捆綁包，我們相信這些捆綁包將日益形成串流媒體領域內容分發的未來。

Last month, we started offering our advertising clients the ability to buy programmatically on our linear networks, a major technological lead for the entire industry, and we already have several national brands across a wide range of categories taking advantage of this new capability.

上個月，我們開始為廣告客戶提供在我們的線性網路上以程式方式購買的能力，這是整個行業的主要技術領先優勢，而且我們已經有多個類別的國家品牌利用了這一新功能。

Programmatic buying offers enhanced targeting, greater efficiency, and has been the preferred way to transact on digital platforms for years, but until now has never been possible for national linear television commercials.

程序化購買提供了更強的針對性、更高的效率，多年來一直是數位平台上交易的首選方式，但到目前為止，這對於全國性線性電視廣告來說是不可能的。

Our rollout of programmatic on linear follows our introduction of addressable advertising across our networks a couple of years ago, another first for the industry that significantly increases the value and relevance of our linear ad inventory.

幾年前，我們在網路上推出了可尋址廣告，隨後推出了線性程式化廣告，這是業界的另一首創，它顯著提高了我們線性廣告庫存的價值和相關性。

We remain laser-focused on managing our business responsibly with a focus on costs, efficiency, profitability, and moving quickly into areas where we see competitive advantages. At the same time, we continue to be nimble, opportunistic, and flexible in leveraging our core strengths and seizing every opportunity to put our content and brands everywhere viewers are.

我們仍然專注於負責任地管理我們的業務，專注於成本、效率、獲利能力，並迅速進入我們看到競爭優勢的領域。同時，我們繼續保持敏捷、機會主義和靈活的態度，利用我們的核心優勢，抓住每一個機會，將我們的內容和品牌傳播到觀眾所在的任何地方。

Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Patrick for a review of our financial results.

現在，我想將電話轉給帕特里克，以審查我們的財務表現。

Thank you, Kristin. I'd like to start by building on what Kristin discussed regarding partnerships, then I'll review our financial results and outlook before we open it up for Q&A.

謝謝你，克里斯汀。我想先以克里斯汀討論的有關合作夥伴關係的內容為基礎，然後在我們進行問答之前，我將回顧我們的財務表現和前景。

Our relationships with our affiliates are important, long-standing and mutually beneficial. We feel strongly that our tight portfolio of 5 well-defined networks continues to offer a strong value proposition to distributors and is well-suited to maintain broad distribution in basic or expanded basic tiers going forward.

我們與附屬公司的關係非常重要、長期且互利。我們強烈認為，我們由 5 個明確定義的網絡組成的緊密投資組合將繼續為分銷商提供強大的價值主張，並且非常適合在未來維持基本或擴展基本層的廣泛分銷。

Our network supported by strong programming and highly regarded brands are accretive to the overall value of the video bundle. Our best and highest-value programming has remained on linear. And as Kristin mentioned, we are one of the only remaining sources of high-quality scripted drama in the bundle.

我們的網路由強大的節目和備受推崇的品牌支持，可增加視訊包的整體價值。我們最好和最高價值的節目一直保持線性。正如克里斯汀所提到的，我們是該捆綁包中僅存的高品質腳本劇來源之一。

That's reflective of our deliberate strategy to keep these affiliate relationships strong and hold our ground as the provider of a limited number of broadly appealing general entertainment brands that continue to bring value to our affiliates' video products.

這反映了我們的深思熟慮的策略，即保持這些聯屬關係的牢固，並鞏固我們作為有限數量的具有廣泛吸引力的一般娛樂品牌提供商的地位，這些品牌繼續為我們的聯屬公司的視頻產品帶來價值。

Our MVPD partners appreciate and are well aware of the value and performance our networks deliver. They understand that our content is compelling, our networks are high-performing, and that our wholesale rate is low. Our networks account for a small slice of total industry affiliate fees and deliver almost 2x that in audience share. That makes us a very efficient partner.

我們的 MVPD 合作夥伴讚賞並充分了解我們的網路提供的價值和效能。他們明白我們的內容引人注目，我們的網路表現出色，而且我們的批發價格很低。我們的網路只佔行業聯盟費用總額的一小部分，但受眾份額幾乎是兩倍。這使我們成為非常有效率的合作夥伴。

Our partners also appreciate our ability to work together on new initiatives that drive real economic benefits for us and for them, such as selling our streaming services, distributing our FAST channels, collaborating on technical enhancements that improve the viewing experience, and increasing developments and value of television advertising.

我們的合作夥伴也讚賞我們能夠共同開展新舉措，為我們和他們帶來真正的經濟效益，例如銷售我們的串流媒體服務、分發我們的 FAST 頻道、合作改進技術以改善觀看體驗以及增加開發和價值的電視廣告。

We expect our relationships with our affiliates, both old and new, to remain fruitful and mutually beneficial for many years to come.

我們期望我們與新舊附屬公司的關係在未來許多年保持富有成效和互惠互利。

On to our third quarter consolidated financial performance. Consolidated revenue decreased 7% from the prior year to $637 million. Consolidated adjusted operating income decreased 9% to $177 million, representing a margin of 28%, which reflects our continued focus on operating efficiency, and is consistent with the margin we delivered in the third quarter of last year.

關於我們第三季的綜合財務表現。綜合收入較前一年下降 7%，至 6.37 億美元。合併調整後營業收入下降 9%，至 1.77 億美元，利潤率為 28%，這反映了我們對營運效率的持續關注，並且與我們去年第三季交付的利潤率一致。

Adjusted earnings per share was $1.85. We delivered $99 million of free cash flow in the quarter, which sets us up nicely to achieve our previously stated free cash flow objectives for 2023. Notwithstanding that, we continue to operate in a difficult environment as we navigate industry-wide challenges, impacting both the ad market and traditional pay TV ecosystem.

調整後每股收益為 1.85 美元。我們在本季交付了9,900 萬美元的自由現金流，這使我們能夠很好地實現先前提出的2023 年自由現金流目標。儘管如此，我們在應對全行業挑戰的過程中仍繼續在困難的環境中運營，這對我們和廣告市場和傳統付費電視生態系統。

During this period of market evolution, driven by shifting consumer preferences, we have been pleased with our ability to continue to manage expenses while remaining flexible and collaborative as the industry works through this period of transition.

在這段市場演變時期，在消費者偏好轉變的推動下，我們對自己能夠繼續管理費用，同時在行業度過這段過渡時期保持靈活性和協作性的能力感到滿意。

I'll quickly touch on our segment financials. Domestic operations revenues decreased 8% to $541 million for the third quarter. This was driven by an 18% decrease in advertising revenues and a 13% decrease in affiliate revenues, partly offset by streaming and licensing revenue growth of 9% and 7%, respectively.

我將快速談談我們部門的財務狀況。第三季國內營運收入下降 8% 至 5.41 億美元。這是由廣告收入下降 18% 和聯營公司收入下降 13% 推動的，但部分被串流媒體和授權收入分別增長 9% 和 7% 所抵消。

Advertising revenues in the third quarter continues to be impacted by lower linear ratings, a difficult ad environment, and fewer episodes of original programming, which is the anticipated result of the rightsizing we have done to date in terms of programming investment.

第三季的廣告收入繼續受到線性收視率下降、廣告環境困難以及原創節目劇集減少的影響，這是我們迄今為止在節目投資方面所做的調整的預期結果。

Digital growth remains a partial offset to these headwinds. That said, we continue to experience a similar advertising environment as our peers as scatter and direct response remain challenging given the economic climate as our advertising partners remain conservative with their spending.

數位成長仍然部分抵消了這些不利因素。也就是說，我們繼續經歷與同業類似的廣告環境，因為考慮到經濟環境，我們的廣告合作夥伴對其支出保持保守，分散和直接反應仍然具有挑戰性。

Affiliate revenue performance in the quarter was driven by continued declines in the basic subscriber universe, and the 3% impact from the strategic nonrenewal of Fubo. We ended the quarter with 11.1 million streaming subscribers, up from 10.7 million in the prior year period and 11 million in the second quarter. We are pleased that our focus on higher-quality subscribers is working despite significantly reduced promotional activity.

本季聯屬網絡行銷收入表現受到基本訂戶範圍持續下降以及 Fubo 策略性不續訂造成 3% 影響的推動。本季末，我們的串流訂閱用戶數量為 1,110 萬，高於去年同期的 1,070 萬和第二季的 1,100 萬。我們很高興看到，儘管促銷活動大幅減少，但我們對高品質訂戶的關注仍在發揮作用。

In the third quarter, we grew subscribers 4% year-over-year and 1% sequentially. Domestic operations adjusted operating income decreased 10% to $185 million, with a margin of 34%. The decrease in AOI was largely attributable to lower revenues and was partially offset by lower SG&A expense, the result of continued cost controls across the company.

第三季度，我們的訂戶數量年增 4%，季增 1%。國內業務調整後營業收入下降 10%，至 1.85 億美元，利潤率為 34%。 AOI 的下降主要歸因於收入下降，並被整個公司持續成本控制導致的 SG&A 費用下降所部分抵消。

Looking at our International and Other segment, for the third quarter, revenue and adjusted operating income each decreased 2% to $98 million and $13 million, respectively.

看看我們的國際和其他部門，第三季的收入和調整後營業收入分別下降 2% 至 9,800 萬美元和 1,300 萬美元。

Moving to the balance sheet. We ended the third quarter with net debt and finance leases of approximately $1.9 billion, and a consolidated net leverage ratio of 2.7x. We have substantial financial flexibility and total liquidity in excess of $1.35 billion, including $955 million of cash in the balance sheet, and our undrawn $400 million revolving credit facility.

轉向資產負債表。截至第三季末，我們的淨債務和融資租賃約為 19 億美元，綜合淨槓桿率為 2.7 倍。我們擁有龐大的財務彈性，總流動性超過 13.5 億美元，其中包括資產負債表中 9.55 億美元的現金，以及未提取的 4 億美元循環信貸額度。

As noted in our earnings release this morning, we are redeeming our 2024 Senior Notes at par with formal notice to holders going out today.

正如我們今天早上的財報中所指出的，我們將按面值贖回我們的 2024 年優先票據，並向今天發出的正式通知持有人發出。

Regarding capital allocation, our philosophy remains disciplined and opportunistic. First, we look to support the business with a particular focus, creating compelling content that resonates with our audience, while balancing overall profitability and cash flow generation. Second, we remain focused on the balance sheet and addressing upcoming maturities. Lastly, strategic M&A and returning capital to shareholders remain further down our priority list.

關於資本配置，我們的理念仍然是紀律和機會主義。首先，我們希望以特定的重點支持業務，創造與觀眾產生共鳴的引人注目的內容，同時平衡整體獲利能力和現金流生成。其次，我們仍然關注資產負債表和解決即將到期的問題。最後，策略併購和向股東返還資本仍然是我們優先考慮的事項。

On to our outlook for the year. In terms of our revenue outlook, given the industry pressures I discussed earlier in my remarks, we are now expecting consolidated net revenue to be closer to $2.7 billion for the full year 2023, down from our prior expectation of approximately $2.8 billion.

關於我們今年的展望。就我們的收入前景而言，考慮到我之前在發言中討論的行業壓力，我們現在預計 2023 年全年的合併淨收入將接近 27 億美元，低於我們之前約 28 億美元的預期。

Our decision to reduce our full year revenue outlook reflects softness we are seeing in content licensing revenues as well as the continuation of a difficult advertising environment.

我們降低全年收入預期的決定反映了我們看到的內容授權收入疲軟以及艱難的廣告環境的持續。

Despite these headwinds, we are reiterating our 2023 adjusted operating income outlook and expect AOI to be in the range of $650 million to $675 million, reflecting continued and better than previously anticipated cost discipline.

儘管有這些不利因素，我們仍重申 2023 年調整後營業收入前景，預計 AOI 將在 6.5 億至 6.75 億美元之間，反映出持續且優於先前預期的成本控制。

We are also reiterating our expectation of 2023 free cash flow in the range of $120 million to $140 million. Note that our free cash flow guidance contemplates $115 million of one-time cash restructuring payments. Excluding these restructuring payments, our free cash flow would be in the range of $235 million to $255 million.

我們也重申 2023 年自由現金流的預期為 1.2 億至 1.4 億美元。請注意，我們的自由現金流指引考慮了 1.15 億美元的一次性現金重組付款。不包括這些重組付款，我們的自由現金流將在 2.35 億至 2.55 億美元之間。

We also continue to expect to grow free cash flow going forward. Recall that this year, our free cash flow will reflect the $50 million tailwind from the Hulu transaction we discussed last quarter. So to be clear, our expectation of free cash flow growth going forward is growth off of the base range of $185 million to $205 million.

我們也繼續預計未來自由現金流將會成長。回想一下，今年我們的自由現金流將反映出我們上季度討論的 Hulu 交易帶來的 5000 萬美元的推動力。因此需要明確的是，我們對未來自由現金流成長的預期是在 1.85 億美元至 2.05 億美元的基本範圍之外成長。

We continue to expect cash content investment to be approximately $1.1 billion for 2023, and expect cash content investment to be in the area of $1 billion thereafter.

我們仍預計 2023 年現金內容投資約為 11 億美元，並預計此後現金內容投資將在 10 億美元左右。

Before I close, I would like to again note that our financial approach is rooted in 3 foundational principles to ensure maximum flexibility going forward. The first is ensuring that we maximize the monetization of our content across all available avenues and platforms while preserving brand affinity. Kristin highlighted some of the ways we have recently done this, including our pop-up with Max and the launch of an ad-supported version of AMC+.

在結束之前，我想再次指出，我們的財務方法植根於 3 項基本原則，以確保未來能達到最大的靈活性。首先是確保我們在所有可用途徑和平台上最大限度地實現內容的貨幣化，同時保持品牌親和力。 Kristin 強調了我們最近採取的一些方法，包括我們與 Max 的彈出視窗以及推出支援廣告的 AMC+ 版本。

The second is operating as efficiently as possible. This is a must for all content companies, and we remain focused on managing a lean and adaptable business on this front. We are pleased with our performance since we began implementing changes around this time last year.

第二是盡可能有效率地運作。這對於所有內容公司來說都是必須的，我們仍然專注於管理這方面的精實且適應性強的業務。自去年這個時候我們開始實施變革以來，我們對我們的表現感到滿意。

The third is being highly disciplined when it comes to capital allocation, including remaining opportunistic and flexible as we continue to maintain our healthy balance sheet. This includes being responsible with our content investments and reducing our quantum of gross debt, which we are doing today through the notice of redemption on our 2024 Senior Notes.

第三是在資本配置方面保持嚴格的紀律，包括在我們繼續保持健康的資產負債表的同時保持機會主義和靈活性。這包括對我們的內容投資負責並減少我們的總債務，我們今天透過 2024 年優先票據的贖回通知來做到這一點。

We live and breathe these financial principles throughout the organization, which allows us to manage this business profitably and sustainably while retaining flexibility to move quickly as we leverage our core strengths and seize new opportunities.

我們在整個組織中實踐和呼吸這些財務原則，這使我們能夠以盈利和可持續的方式管理這項業務，同時在利用我們的核心優勢和抓住新機會時保持快速行動的靈活性。

Operator, please open the line for questions.

接線員，請開通提問線。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from Michael Morris of Guggenheim Securities.

（操作員指示）我們的第一個問題將來自古根漢證券公司的邁克爾莫里斯。

Two, if I could. First, maybe for Kristin. I'd love to hear some more detail on how the programming -- the programmatic linear advertising works specifically. How does it sort of fit with your direct sales organization? And what kind of mechanics does it take to deliver targeted advertising to a linear audience? How -- what other partners do you have to work with? And I guess, how does that work exactly? That's my first question.

兩個，如果可以的話。首先，也許是克里斯汀。我很想聽聽更多關於程序化線性廣告具體如何運作的細節。它如何適合您的直銷組織？需要什麼樣的機制才能提供線性受眾有針對性的廣告？您還需要與哪些其他合作夥伴合作？我想，這到底是如何運作的呢？這是我的第一個問題。

And then second, maybe for Patrick. You talked about softness in licensing revenue impacting the full-year guide. There seems to be a very strong appetite for licensed content, especially during the strike right now. So maybe you can help us understand how much of that has to do with like timing availability? And how much of that has to do with end-market demand?

然後是第二，也許是派崔克。您談到了許可收入疲軟對全年指南的影響。人們似乎對許可內容有著非常強烈的興趣，尤其是在目前的罷工期間。那麼也許您可以幫助我們了解這與時間可用性有多少關係？其中有多少與終端市場需求有關？

Michael, you're making my day by asking about this particular topic because it's very near and dear to my heart, maximizing the capacity that we have on all of our advertising. And my history recently in data and analytics like this is a super enthusiastic area for me.

邁克爾，你問這個特定的話題讓我很高興，因為它非常貼近我的心，最大限度地提高了我們所有廣告的能力。我最近在數據和分析方面的經驗對我來說是一個非常熱情的領域。

I'm going to let Kim Kelleher speak to programmatic linear, just on the technicalities of it, but also coupling that with addressable, and national addressable is really kind of a 1-2 punch.

我將讓 Kim Kelleher 談談程序化線性，只是談論它的技術細節，而且還將其與可尋址結合起來，而國家可尋址實際上是一種 1-2 拳。

So Kim, do you want to get into the specifics a little bit?

Kim，你想了解具體細節嗎？

Sure. We're really excited about this, as Kristin just said. So in simplest terms, what we've done is we've enabled biddable programmatic buying capabilities within our linear inventory, which was mentioned as an industry first. This is something we've been working on for a long time. This means digital advertisers can now purchase our national linear inventory programmatically using the traditional buying platforms that they use today to buy all of their digital.

當然。正如克里斯汀剛才所說，我們對此感到非常興奮。因此，用最簡單的術語來說，我們所做的就是在線性庫存中啟用可出價的程序化購買功能，這在業界是首次提到的。這是我們長期以來一直在努力的事情。這意味著數位廣告商現在可以使用他們今天用來購買所有數位廣告的傳統購買平台以程式方式購買我們的全國線性廣告資源。

So what this opens up is a lot of incremental audience and reach, and it maximizes the value of our yield on our linear inventory. So it brings accessibility to a longer tail of advertisers than we have traditionally worked with. So this is also the first time our advertisers can manage reach and frequency within the same campaign in linear using an automated buying platform, like The Trade Desk or whoever their preferred partner is.

因此，這會帶來大量增量受眾和影響力，並最大限度地提高線性庫存的收益價值。因此，它為比我們傳統合作的更長尾部的廣告商帶來了可及性。因此，這也是我們的廣告商第一次可以使用自動購買平台（例如 The Trade Desk 或他們的首選合作夥伴）線性管理同一廣告活動中的覆蓋範圍和頻率。

So this is really exciting when you couple it with the advanced advertising efforts we've taken to make all of our inventory highly targetable. So this really kind of rounds out the offering, and just making it much more seamless and efficient to buy from us.

因此，當您將其與我們為使所有庫存高度具有針對性而採取的先進廣告努力相結合時，這真的很令人興奮。因此，這確實使我們的產品更加完善，並使從我們這裡購買產品變得更加無縫和高效。

Yes. And just in summary, like you can -- an advertiser can come to us either with a segment that they define or when we help them define, and then, they can buy across all of our opportunities in a consolidated way and also through our [Audience Plus] platform get attribution that really helps them understand what worked, what didn't, and they're buying across every single scenario of advertising offering that we have, whether it's linear or digital. So it's super exciting, and I think there's a lot of upside here.

是的。總而言之，就像您一樣 - 廣告商可以帶著他們定義的細分市場來找我們，或者當我們幫助他們定義時，然後，他們可以以統一的方式並通過我們的[ Audience Plus] 平台獲得的歸因確實可以幫助他們了解哪些有效，哪些無效，並且他們在我們擁有的每一個廣告產品場景中進行購買，無論是線性的還是數字的。所以這非常令人興奮，我認為這裡有很多好處。

Mike, it's Patrick on the content licensing question. The short answer to the question is more of an end-market issue for us and a pricing issue for us. So I'll unpack that a little bit here.

麥克，我是派崔克，關於內容授權問題。這個問題的簡短回答更多的是我們的終端市場問題和定價問題。所以我會在這裡稍微解開它。

So first off, I'd separate the international and domestic markets. I think the international market remains kind of more robust than the domestic side, at least for us. And as we go to market and look to sort of pull forward the monetization of our content, we're at the same time, disciplined from a price perspective.

首先，我將國際市場和國內市場分開。我認為國際市場仍然比國內市場更強勁，至少對我們來說是如此。當我們進入市場並尋求推動內容的貨幣化時，我們同時從價格角度進行約束。

So obviously, we were able to get a bunch of additional programming, kind of on the Covered via the unwind of the Disney-Hulu deal. We opted to use that on the pop-up on Max, opportunistic, really put our content out there, hopefully driving people back into our own ecosystem.

顯然，我們能夠透過迪士尼與 Hulu 交易的解除獲得大量額外的節目，例如在 Covered 上。我們選擇在 Max 的彈出視窗上使用它，機會主義，真正將我們的內容放在那裡，希望能促使人們回到我們自己的生態系統中。

We're benefiting this year, honestly, from a higher volume of content put in the Covered since we had held back in prior years and kept that for exclusive use on our own platforms. That's obviously no longer the case.

老實說，今年我們受益於覆蓋範圍內放置的更多內容，因為我們在前幾年有所保留，並將其保留在我們自己的平台上獨家使用。顯然情況不再是這樣了。

But the reality is, is that when we're in market, we value our content highly. And so while there's always an appetite for the content, it's not always at a price that we think it's worth. And so we're opting to sort of keep some powder dry. It doesn't mean that the timing isn't necessarily, but we are sort of guardians of our programming and the value thereof.

但現實是，當我們進入市場時，我們非常重視我們的內容。因此，雖然人們對內容總是有興趣，但它的價格並不總是我們認為值得的。所以我們選擇保持一些粉末乾燥。這並不意味著時機不一定，但我們是我們的程式設計及其價值的守護者。

Our next question will come from David Joyce of Seaport Research Partners.

我們的下一個問題將來自海港研究合作夥伴公司的大衛喬伊斯。

I wanted to follow on the programmatic question there. I was just wondering how, I guess, ubiquitous is this ability. How are we moving towards industry standards across the various networks and platforms in order to make this efficient for the ad buyers?

我想繼續討論那裡的程序性問題。我只是想知道這種能力是如何無處不在的。我們如何在各種網路和平台上邁向業界標準，以便為廣告購買者提供高效率的服務？

And how does this work with you opening up some of your newer services like AMC+ to advertising? Are you -- is it pretty seamless to be selling across platforms, and if you could tie that in also to how things went in the upfront this year? Were these part of all of those negotiations, as I presume they probably were?

這對您向廣告開放一些較新的服務（例如 AMC+）有何幫助？跨平台銷售是否非常無縫？您是否可以將其與今年前期的進度聯繫起來？這些是所有這些談判的一部分嗎？我認為它們很可能是？

David, it's Kim Kelleher. Great question. So let's say, I'm going to take it piece by piece very quickly. It's -- so this has been a work in progress for a long time. This started with addressable efforts that we announced 2 years ago with on addressability in partnership with Comcast, Charter, and Cox.

大衛，我是金凱萊赫。很好的問題。這麼說吧，我很快就會一點一點地講。這是一項長期進行的工作。這始於我們兩年前宣布的與 Comcast、Charter 和 Cox 合作的可尋址工作。

Fast forward to today, we are opening up inventory that we'll be able to add to this footprint, partner by partner. Initially, though, we are working through Canoe, and have started with Comcast inventory. Obviously, Canoe also works with Charter and Cox. So we anticipate expanding upon this.

快進到今天，我們正在開放庫存，我們將能夠逐個合作夥伴將其添加到此足跡中。不過，最初我們是透過 Canoe 進行工作，並從康卡斯特庫存開始。顯然，Canoe 也與 Charter 和 Cox 合作。因此，我們預計會對此進行擴展。

What we do is we couple this inventory with our growing CTV inventory coming from our 17 FAST channels that are currently across 9 platforms, soon to be across 12 platforms by the end of this year, which is giving us a huge expanse of inventory that can be transacted on digitally.

我們所做的就是將此庫存與來自17 個FAST 頻道的不斷增長的CTV 庫存結合起來，這些頻道目前跨9 個平台，很快將在今年年底跨12 個平台，這為我們提供了巨大的庫存，可以以數位方式進行交易。

So once you put all of this together, you're able to do highly targeted. And with the progress the industry has made on managing reach and frequency and brand safety within those environments, you've got a very compelling opportunity that we're excited to be leading.

因此，一旦將所有這些放在一起，您就能夠進行高度有針對性的工作。隨著行業在這些環境中管理覆蓋範圍、頻率以及品牌安全方面的進步，您將獲得一個非常引人注目的機會，我們很高興能夠成為領導者。

And if I could add a second topic. With some of the content comparisons causing some challenges, how can we -- and obviously, given some of the strike impacts, how should we think about some of your key content properties, timing-wise, across some of your main networks over the next few quarters to think about how advertising trends may be playing out?

如果我可以添加第二個主題。由於某些內容比較造成了一些挑戰，我們如何——顯然，考慮到一些罷工影響，我們應該如何考慮接下來在您的一些主要網絡中的一些關鍵內容屬性，從時間角度考慮幾個季度來思考廣告趨勢可能會如何發展？

David, this is Dan. We're in great shape. We have a robust slate of content that is already finished and/or being finished right now, as Kristin said, with Interview with the Vampire and the second season of Daryl Dixon that will take us well into 2024.

大衛，這是丹。我們的狀態很好。正如克里斯汀所說，我們有大量內容已經完成和/或正在完成，《夜訪吸血鬼》和《達裡爾迪克森》第二季將帶我們進入 2024 年。

So we don't expect any impact from the lingering SAG after-strike, which we also hope is going to be resolved in the coming days anyway. So -- and there's no material impact to AOI or free cash flow from the strikes.

因此，我們預計 SAG 罷工後的持續影響不會產生任何影響，我們也希望這個問題能在未來幾天內解決。因此，罷工對 AOI 或自由現金流沒有重大影響。

And David, it's Patrick, just one sort of final footnote there from a 2023 perspective, you'll recognize that we're cycling fairly difficult comps from a programming perspective. So I would expect that the advertising number in Q4 will reflect that.

大衛，我是帕特里克，從 2023 年的角度來看，這只是最後的腳註之一，你會認識到，從編程的角度來看，我們正在循環相當困難的比賽。因此，我預計第四季度的廣告數量將反映這一點。

Next question will come from the line of Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson.

下一個問題將來自 MoffettNathanson 的 Michael Nathanson。

This is Luke Landis on for Michael. I wanted to ask, in your current bundled deals with linear distributors, is there any way to allocate the breakdown to streaming versus linear channels? And how you expect that to shift in the years ahead?

我是邁克爾·盧克·蘭迪斯 (Luke Landis)。我想問一下，在你們目前與線性發行商的捆綁交易中，有沒有辦法將細分分配給串流媒體管道和線性頻道？您預計未來幾年這種情況會發生怎樣的轉變？

It's Kristin. At this point, I think we look at our relationships holistically. And as we noted, we've included AMC+ with every single partner, traditional as well as a lot of the newer players into the space like Amazon, Apple, Roku, YouTube. So I think this will evolve over time how it gets sort of bifurcated and trifurcated.

這是克里斯汀。在這一點上，我認為我們應該從整體上看待我們的關係。正如我們所指出的，我們已將 AMC+ 納入每個合作夥伴中，包括傳統合作夥伴以及亞馬遜、蘋果、Roku、YouTube 等許多新玩家。所以我認為，隨著時間的推移，這將會演變為兩叉和三叉。

But just to restate, our goal is always to offer the most flexibility that allows our partners to be successful and to get our content in front of as many people opportunistically in any way that they would like to consume it.

但重申一下，我們的目標始終是提供最大的靈活性，使我們的合作夥伴能夠取得成功，並將我們的內容以他們想要的任何方式機會性地呈現在盡可能多的人面前。

So utilizing our content across brands, across platforms, across technologies, and then both in ad-supported and non-ad-supported ways, but it's not specifically broken out yet in a way that we can articulate publicly.

因此，跨品牌、跨平台、跨技術，然後以廣告支援和非廣告支援的方式利用我們的內容，但它還沒有以我們可以公開闡明的方式具體分解。

Next question will come from Brett Feldman of Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題將由高盛的布雷特·費爾德曼提出。

Two, if you don't mind. First, on free cash flow and the outlook for growing free cash flow. I was hoping you could give us some insights into how you think the cash flow equation is going to evolve, meaning, right now, you guys are really doing a terrific job on the cost side of it, and that's clearly supporting a strong cash flow profile.

兩個，如果你不介意的話。首先，關於自由現金流和自由現金流成長的前景。我希望你能給我們一些關於你認為現金流方程式將如何演變的見解，這意味著，現在，你們在成本方面確實做得非常出色，這顯然支持了強勁的現金流輪廓。

How much longer do you think that cost programs can support growth in free cash flow? And how are you thinking about the path to long-term revenue growth? I think, most people would agree it is sort of essential to sustaining cash flow growth over the long term.

您認為成本計畫還能支持自由現金流的成長多久？您如何考慮長期收入成長的道路？我認為，大多數人都會同意這對長期維持現金流成長至關重要。

And then the second is you've really been at the forefront of bundling your streaming services in with other streamers, and you've had some good early success there. There's been this constant conversation about when are we going to see more of that happening broadly across the category.

其次，您確實處於將串流媒體服務與其他串流媒體捆綁在一起的最前沿，並且您已經在這方面取得了一些良好的早期成功。人們一直在討論我們什麼時候才能看到更多這樣的事情在整個品類中廣泛發生。

I'm curious what your insights are there. As you've done this, what have you found has worked? And do you see some emerging catalysts that are likely to create more of a bundling initiatives and natural facilitators? Sort of an open-ended question, but I think you guys have the unique advantage on this.

我很好奇你的見解是什麼。當您完成此操作後，您發現什麼有效？您是否看到一些可能產生更多捆綁措施和自然促進因素的新興催化劑？這是一個開放式問題，但我認為你們在這方面有獨特的優勢。

Brett, it's Patrick. I'll start on the free cash flow question. Listen, we've been taking steps over the course of the last 3 to 4 quarters, frankly, to set ourselves up in this way. And so we'll have essentially doubled run rate free cash flow from '22 into '23, and we feel quite good about continuing to grow that into '24. Obviously, the biggest lever we've had to pull there is on the programming side. And so we've set up the '23, '24, and we're looking towards '25 slates in order to ensure that, that run rate continues.

布雷特，這是派崔克。我將從自由現金流問題開始。聽著，坦白說，我們在過去 3 到 4 個季度中一直在採取措施，以這種方式進行調整。因此，從 22 年到 23 年，我們的運行率自由現金流基本上翻了一番，我們對繼續將其增長到 24 年感到非常滿意。顯然，我們必須使用的最大槓桿是在程式設計方面。因此，我們已經制定了「23」、「24」計劃，並且我們正在尋找「25」計劃，以確保運行率持續下去。

Obviously, there are revenue challenges in the business. We expect those to continue into 2024, particularly on the traditional side of the business. One of the ways we've been able to grow free cash flow is not just on expense management, which, to your point, is finite. But I would also point at our efficiency on the marketing front. And so that's been one lever that we've pulled this year that's been particularly effective for us.

顯然，該業務存在收入挑戰。我們預計這種情況將持續到 2024 年，特別是在傳統業務方面。我們能夠增加自由現金流的方法之一不僅僅是費用管理，就您而言，費用管理是有限的。但我還要指出我們在行銷方面的效率。因此，這是我們今年採取的對我們特別有效的槓桿。

And obviously, we've moderated the growth in our streaming subscribers, and that's decelerated to a degree, but it's been offset by significant increases in the efficiency of that marketing spend. So we're being much more tactical in spending against CPAs where we see value. And so I think to the extent we continue to do that.

顯然，我們已經放緩了串流媒體訂閱者的成長，並且在一定程度上有所放緩，但行銷支出效率的顯著提高抵消了這一成長。因此，在我們認為有價值的地方，我們在針對註冊會計師的支出方面採取了更戰術性的策略。所以我認為我們會繼續這樣做。

And frankly, as the ecosystem evolves towards bundles and we can have more sort of innovative and imaginative kind of revenue streams, as Kristin alluded to, I think from that, obviously, AOI and free cash flow growth will continue.

坦白說，隨著生態系統向捆綁發展，我們可以擁有更多創新和富有想像的收入流，正如克里斯汀所提到的那樣，我認為，顯然，AOI 和自由現金流將繼續增長。

On the bundling side, Brett, I would just say there's real opportunity here around pricing and packaging. We are, as we've stated before, a pure-play programmer. So we have, I think, more flexibility to experiment. We have long-standing relationships in the industry, so it's kind of fun to get together and brainstorm and think about opportunities and put them in the marketplace.

在捆綁方面，布雷特，我只想說在定價和包裝方面存在真正的機會。正如我們之前所說，我們是一名純粹的程式設計師。所以我認為我們有更大的實驗彈性。我們在行業中擁有長期的合作關係，因此聚在一起集思廣益、思考機會並將其投入市場是很有趣的。

And then sort of -- as part of an answer to both of your questions, our goal here is really to get to be sort of a lean-mean distribution machine to create great content and get it out everywhere we possibly can.

然後，作為回答你們兩個問題的一部分，我們的目標實際上是成為一種精益發行機器，以創造出色的內容並將其傳播到我們可能的任何地方。

And that's our ability to be innovative, our ability to move quickly, our ability to partner and engage with people on all different types of ideas and then culminate that with really intense utilization of data and technology to really understand the opportunities, articulate and attribute what the results were and then kind of roll those forward into expansion of the opportunities around bundling, around technological distribution, around ad-supported capabilities, are all, again, bright future spots that we see.

這就是我們的創新能力，我們快速行動的能力，我們與人們就各種不同類型的想法進行合作和互動的能力，然後透過真正密集地利用數據和技術來真正理解機會，闡明和歸因什麼結果是，然後將這些向前推進，擴大圍繞捆綁、技術分銷、廣告支援功能的機會，這些都是我們看到的光明的未來點。

In addition to the efficiencies that we're finding in the organization in just getting smarter and more nimble and faster in everything that we do. So we've made a lot of progress there. I think we have more opportunities to do so in ways that benefit the company without cutting bone.

除了我們在組織中發現的效率之外，我們所做的一切都變得更加聰明、更加靈活和更快。所以我們在那裡取得了很大進展。我認為我們有更多的機會以有利於公司的方式做到這一點，而不是削減骨頭。

Next question will come from Thomas Yeh of Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題將由摩根士丹利的 Thomas Yeh 提出。

I wanted to ask more about the Max experiment, especially in the contrast to the comments about the lower industry appetite for licensing. It seems like it was more promotional than economic in nature. Wondering if there is any opportunity to monetize that more directly in the future. And do you think the value lies more in driving attention to your own services as opposed to kind of a direct licensing?

我想更多地了解 Max 實驗，特別是與有關行業對許可興趣較低的評論形成鮮明對比。看起來它的促銷性質大於經濟性質。想知道未來是否有機會更直接地將其貨幣化。您是否認為價值更多在於吸引人們對您自己的服務的關注，而不是直接授權？

I'd say it's a combination of both. I mean, we did see, obviously, as we said, we're thrilled with the volume of viewership of our titles on Max, including things that were not current. So we've got a lot of exposure for our brands. We then saw uptick again in utilization on AMC+ of the current seasons of shows like Dark Winds, and some of the other shows that we put on Max.

我想說這是兩者的結合。我的意思是，我們確實看到，正如我們所說，我們對 Max 上我們的作品的觀看量感到非常興奮，包括那些不是最新的內容。因此，我們的品牌獲得了很多曝光。然後，我們發現 AMC+ 上當前幾季的節目（例如《黑暗之風》）以及我們在 Max 上播放的其他一些節目的利用率再次上升。

And then we're -- the experiment just ended a couple of days ago. So we're now working with Warner Bros. on results from them to see how we can again sort of parlay this forward and think about ways that we can opportunistically continue to expand the visibility of our content and partner with others to help kind of serve the customer best and bundles.

然後我們——實驗幾天前才剛結束。因此，我們現在正在與華納兄弟合作，研究他們的成果，看看我們如何能夠再次利用這一點，並思考我們可以機會主義地繼續擴大我們內容的可見性並與其他人合作以幫助服務的方式。客戶最好的和捆綁。

Everything old is new again when you talk about bundles. And whether it's a triple play of telecommunications offerings or a neatly packaged set of programming offering as it benefits the consumer, and we want to play in that space.

當你談論捆綁時，一切舊的東西都又變成新的了。無論是電信產品的三重播放，還是一套精心包裝的節目產品，因為它有利於消費者，我們希望在這個領域發揮作用。

Great. Makes sense. And then recognizing it's still early days on the ad tier launch, the OTT subscriptions, I noticed, it stabilized in the quarter. I'm wondering if there was a contribution or a mix shift from that. And it sounds like you see this as a potential tool to find more ways to bundle. Is the expectation that the mix of subscribers shifts more towards an emphasis on AVOD as an opportunity over time?

偉大的。說得通。然後我意識到廣告層推出仍處於早期階段，我注意到 OTT 訂閱在本季趨於穩定。我想知道是否有貢獻或混合轉變。聽起來您認為這是一個尋找更多捆綁方式的潛在工具。隨著時間的推移，訂閱者的組合是否會更多地轉向強調 AVOD 作為一個機會？

Thomas, it's Patrick. Yes, thanks for recognizing the kind of the sequential growth there. As I referenced before, it's really early days on the ad tier. So it's tough to draw any kind of lessons from that yet. That being said, I think, I would point to the efficiency and kind of marketing spend and cadence of content, et cetera, on the subscriber growth -- on the subscriber side.

托馬斯，是派崔克。是的，感謝您認識到那裡的連續增長。正如我之前提到的，廣告層面還處於早期階段。因此，目前還很難從中學到任何教訓。話雖這麼說，我想，我會指出行銷支出的效率、種類以及內容的節奏等等，對訂戶成長的影響——在訂戶方面。

Q4, we'll see what that looks like. It's still too early, I think, to attribute much on the ad-supported tier, but I'll let Kim comment as well.

Q4，我們看看會是什麼樣子。我認為現在對廣告支援層做出太多評價還為時過早，但我也會讓 Kim 發表評論。

Thomas, I would just add to the second part of your question. I think it's very important for us to have this ad-supported tier now because it allows us to participate in future bundling partnerships with parity across a non-ad-supported tier or an ad-free tier and an ad tier. So making it seamless for the consumer and giving them that choice regardless of the tier they decide to come in.

湯瑪斯，我只想補充你問題的第二部分。我認為現在擁有這個廣告支援層對我們來說非常重要，因為它使我們能夠參與未來的捆綁合作夥伴關係，並在非廣告支援層或無廣告層和廣告層之間實現平等。因此，為消費者提供無縫服務，並為他們提供選擇，無論他們決定進入哪個層級。

(Operator Instructions) We have Steve Cahall of Wells Fargo.

（操作員指示）我們有富國銀行的史蒂夫·卡霍爾。

So, Kristin, you talked a lot on this call about the importance of partnerships. And I know the Max relationship has come up a lot. And this seems to be a bigger theme that we're seeing with more content heading on to bigger platforms to maximize its value and reach.

所以，克里斯汀，你在這次電話會議上談論了很多關於合作關係的重要性。我知道麥克斯的關係已經出現了很多次。這似乎是一個更大的主題，我們看到更多的內容進入更大的平台，以最大化其價值和影響力。

So the question I wanted to ask you. You seem to hold nothing sacrosanct within the business in terms of how to best position it going forward. How important is AMC+ to the long-term strategy of AMC? It seems like the linear network is still a great place to premiere content and engage with subscribers. But AMC+ is competing against some of these bigger platforms that you're finding partnerships with. So how do you just think about the strategic nature of that asset going forward?

所以我想問你這個問題。在如何最好地定位未來業務方面，你似乎不認為公司內部有任何神聖不可侵犯的事情。 AMC+對於AMC的長期策略有多重要？線性網路似乎仍然是首映內容和與訂閱者互動的好地方。但 AMC+ 正在與您正在尋找合作夥伴的一些更大平台競爭。那麼，您如何看待該資產未來的策略性質？

And then Patrick, I might be doing the math wrong here, but I think your AOI guide implies a very small Q4 for AOI versus the last 3 quarters. Can you just talk about if there's any content amortization timing shift in there? Is it a conservative guide or something else?

然後帕特里克，我可能在這裡計算錯誤，但我認為你的 AOI 指南意味著與過去 3 個季度相比，第四季度的 AOI 非常小。能談談其中是否有內容攤銷時間變化嗎？這是一個保守的指南還是其他什麼？

Great. On the AMC+ front, it's a critical piece of what we do because it's -- again, we've always coupled it with the linear network. We haven't, particularly, in the last year, put things on AMC+ that we wouldn't put on the linear network. So we see it more as an extension of our linear offering that is available to people who consume television in a different way. That's why we're so excited, a, about the Xumo launch and our partnerships with the virtual MVPDs and the traditional MVPDs that include AMC+.

偉大的。在 AMC+ 方面，這是我們所做工作的關鍵部分，因為我們總是將其與線性網路結合。特別是去年，我們沒有將不會放在線性網路上的東西放在 AMC+ 上。因此，我們更將其視為我們線性產品的延伸，可供以不同方式消費電視的人使用。這就是為什麼我們對 Xumo 的推出以及我們與虛擬 MVPD 和包括 AMC+ 在內的傳統 MVPD 的合作夥伴關係感到如此興奮。

But also this is -- it's interesting just to have products that appeal to different segments of the audience depending on their age and their habits. But each of them contain what we've been sort of working on for 40 years, which has curated amazing scripted dramas. And the great thing for us, again, as Patrick mentioned, is we're reasonably priced across all of our products, and what we deliver is general entertainment.

但同樣有趣的是，根據不同的受眾群體的年齡和習慣來吸引他們的產品，這很有趣。但每一部都包含了我們 40 年來一直在努力的內容，這些內容已經策劃了令人驚嘆的劇本戲劇。正如帕特里克所提到的，對我們來說最棒的事情是我們所有產品的價格都很合理，而且我們提供的是一般娛樂。

So we believe, by being good partners and having great content, we can hold a good position in a sort of expanded basic traditional family cable type of package, whether it's something that is traditional linear or in the more advanced kind of future-looking bundles. It's still a bundle, it's just delivered over IP. So it's a critical piece. But again, I think you have to think about it as a different transmission form of what we've always done really well.

因此，我們相信，透過成為良好的合作夥伴並擁有豐富的內容，我們可以在一種擴展的基本傳統家庭有線電視類型的套餐中佔據有利地位，無論是傳統的線性套餐還是更先進的面向未來的套餐。它仍然是一個捆綁包，只是透過 IP 傳送。所以這是一個關鍵的部分。但同樣，我認為你必須將其視為我們一直做得很好的一種不同的傳播形式。

Steve, it's Patrick. On the Q4 question, I think you answered your own question. So your instincts are correct. There will be a substantial amount of amortization hits the P&L. And if I could sort of qualify the nature of the guide, I would say I expect us to be within the range. It's not necessarily conservative. But, yes, as you look at -- kind of last year, we had a similar dynamic in terms of the Q4 margin being kind of materially lower than the balance of the year. So there's nothing more than that in there.

史蒂夫，是派崔克。關於第四個問題，我想你已經回答了你自己的問題。所以你的直覺是正確的。損益表中將會有大量攤銷。如果我能對指南的性質進行某種限定，我會說我希望我們在這個範圍內。這不一定是保守的。但是，是的，正如你所看到的——去年，我們也有類似的動態，第四季的利潤率大大低於今年的餘額。所以裡面就沒有別的東西了。

Great. Maybe just to follow on with that, Patrick. I think the domestic margin year-to-date is about 4 percentage points higher than last year with less revenue. I know you all have done a lot on cost. Do you think you can continue to expand margin at domestics over the longer term?

偉大的。也許只是為了繼續下去，派崔克。我認為今年迄今的國內利潤率比去年高出約 4 個百分點，但收入卻減少了。我知道你們在成本方面做了很多努力。您認為從長遠來看，您可以繼續擴大國內業務的利潤率嗎？

I'm not sure expanding margin over time is going to be as easy, but we're going to give it our all. But expanding margins could be challenging, I think.

我不確定隨著時間的推移擴大利潤是否會那麼容易，但我們將全力以赴。但我認為擴大利潤可能具有挑戰性。

But I would add, we still see some significant opportunities to streamline our expenses, particularly around technology and distribution. And that's sort of -- that's not unique to us. The marketplace is evolving. The capabilities are evolving. There's opportunities for different cloud vendors and different distribution capabilities that really can allow us to be more efficient in the actual mechanics of delivery on a go-forward basis, and we're looking at that really closely.

但我想補充一點，我們仍然看到一些精簡開支的重要機會，特別是在技術和分銷方面。這並不是我們所獨有的。市場正在不斷發展。能力正在不斷發展。不同的雲端供應商和不同的分發能力都有機會，這些機會確實可以讓我們在未來的實際交付機制中更加高效，我們正在密切關注這一點。

Yes. Steve, actually, one more point on the margin there that I'd point to would be, we're focused on free cash flow. And so, obviously, sort of amortization has a big impact on our P&L from an AOI perspective. As we go forward, we're more focused on free cash flow than AOI. So we're not managing the business for margin. We're managing it for free cash flow right now.

是的。史蒂夫，實際上，我想指出的另一點是，我們專注於自由現金流。因此，顯然，從 AOI 的角度來看，攤銷對我們的損益有很大影響。隨著我們的前進，我們更關注自由現金流而不是 AOI。所以我們管理業務不是為了利潤。我們現在正在管理它以獲得自由現金流。

I see no further questions in the queue. This will conclude today's conference call. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect. Have a pleasant day, and enjoy your weekend.

我在隊列中沒有看到更多問題。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。祝你有愉快的一天，享受你的週末。