AMC Networks Inc (Pre-Reincorporation) (AMCX) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day and thank you for standing by, and welcome to the AMC Networks first quarter 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) Again, 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 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）再次請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to your speaker, Nicholas Seibert, VP of Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給您的發言人、企業發展和投資者關係副總裁尼古拉斯·塞伯特 (Nicholas Seibert)。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to the AMC Networks. first quarter 2024 earnings conference call.

謝謝。早安，歡迎來到 AMC Network。 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。

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.

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含 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績效或結果的保證，並且涉及可能導致實際結果不同的風險和不確定性。

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.

請參閱 AMC Networks 向 SEC 提交的文件，以了解有關風險和不確定性的討論。該公司不承擔更新今天本次電話會議中所做的任何前瞻性陳述的義務。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. In the first quarter, we continued to execute on our strategic priorities, including the ongoing delivery of healthy free cash flow. New technologies are transforming the media industry, providing consumers with more entertainment options than ever before.

謝謝尼克，大家早安。第一季度，我們繼續執行我們的策略重點，包括持續提供健康的自由現金流。新技術正在改變媒體產業，為消費者提供比以往更多的娛樂選擇。

For AMC Networks, taking advantage of these new opportunities, addressing how, when, and where consumers watch our programming is at the heart of our strategy. Last month, we joined with our most important commercial and creative partners for our 2024 upfront.

對 AMC Networks 來說，利用這些新機遇，解決消費者觀看我們節目的方式、時間和地點是我們策略的核心。上個月，我們與最重要的商業和創意合作夥伴一起完成了 2024 年的前期工作。

I'd like to spend a few minutes on some of the key messages we delivered to our commercial partners, which underscore our strengths and how these strengths connect to our strategy, which is to produce great content and make it available to viewers whenever and wherever they want to watch.

我想花幾分鐘時間談談我們向商業合作夥伴傳達的一些關鍵訊息，這些訊息強調了我們的優勢以及這些優勢如何與我們的策略相結合，即製作精彩的內容並隨時隨地向觀眾提供他們想看。

We engage with viewers through a wide variety of end points and monetize our content wherever possible. We serve an aggregated audience of more than 91 million across our linear networks, targeted streaming services, and more than 100 channel feeds on third party CTV and FAST platforms.

我們透過各種端點與觀眾互動，並盡可能透過我們的內容獲利。我們透過線性網路、定向串流服務以及第三方 CTV 和 FAST 平台上的 100 多個頻道來源，為超過 9,100 萬觀眾提供服務。

As an independent programmer not tied to a broadcast network or distribution platform, AMC Networks has the freedom to presents our content in all these places in whatever format our partners and viewers enjoy. Our options are not limited or constrained in this fast-changing world. In fact, we're seeing them grow.

作為一個不依賴廣播網路或分發平台的獨立程式設計師，AMC Networks 可以自由地以我們的合作夥伴和觀眾喜歡的任何格式在所有這些地方呈現我們的內容。在這個瞬息萬變的世界中，我們的選擇不受限製或約束。事實上，我們正​​在見證它們的成長。

Our partners understand that we have the ability to be everywhere and importantly that we add value wherever we are. In addition to our priority of engaging viewers with premium content, we also focus heavily on nurturing and expanding our commercial relationships. We aim to create content that resonates in the marketplace, and we work hard to ensure that our partners also benefit from that success. As part of our upfront, we announced that we plan to launch ad-supported versions of our targeted streaming services by the end of next year.

我們的合作夥伴明白，我們有能力無所不在，重要的是，無論我們身在何處，我們都能創造價值。除了透過優質內容吸引觀眾之外，我們還專注於培育和擴大我們的商業關係。我們的目標是創造在市場上引起共鳴的內容，並努力確保我們的合作夥伴也能從這項成功中受益。作為我們前期工作的一部分，我們宣布計劃在明年年底之前推出我們的目標串流服務的廣告支援版本。

Our popular streaming brands such as Acorn TV, Shudder, ALLBLK, and HIDIVE will, for the first time, have ad-supported versions available on a standalone basis. This will allow us to deliver entire genres and highly engaged fan communities to our advertising partners with a greater level of targeting and performance outcomes than ever before.

我們受歡迎的串流媒體品牌，如 Acorn TV、Shudder、ALLBLK 和 HIDIVE 將首次提供獨立的廣告支援版本。這將使我們能夠向我們的廣告合作夥伴提供完整的流派和高度參與的粉絲社區，並具有比以往更高水平的定位和效果結果。

We've often spoken about our technological leadership position in advertising, and we're proud to continue to be at the forefront in this space. To give you a sense of what this means in practice, 70% of our linear footprint today is enabled for addressable advertising. This includes addressable slots in every single hour of programming on each and every one of our networks.

我們經常談論我們在廣告領域的技術領先地位，並且我們很自豪能夠繼續處於該領域的前沿。為了讓您了解這在實踐中意味著什麼，我們今天 70% 的線性足跡都用於可尋址廣告。這包括我們每個網路上每一小時的節目中的可尋址時段。

40% of that addressable linear footprint can be bought programmatically, which is by far the largest percentage of programmatic linear inventory in the industry. Obviously, 100% of our digital inventory is also programmatic.

40% 的可尋址線性足跡可以透過程式購買，這是迄今為止業界最大比例的程式線性庫存。顯然，我們 100% 的數位庫存也是程式化的。

As media plans increasingly include sophisticated targeting utilizing both linear and digital inventory, this is a meaningful point of differentiation for us. While we're meeting viewers across our brands and networks and streaming services, we're also strategically windowing our content across dozens of endpoints, enabling us to optimize our programming investments. At the same time, we're aggressively pursuing attractive international content licensing arrangements in parts of the world beyond our own distribution footprints. These opportunities continue to be available to us because AMC Networks is upholding and delivering on its commitment to quality content.

隨著媒體計劃越來越多地包括利用線性和數位庫存的複雜定位，這對我們來說是一個有意義的差異化點。在我們透過品牌、網路和串流服務與觀眾見面的同時，我們也策略性地將我們的內容窗口化到數十個端點，使我們能夠優化我們的節目投資。同時，我們正在我們自己的發行版圖之外的世界部分地區積極尋求有吸引力的國際內容授權安排。我們將繼續獲得這些機會，因為 AMC Networks 堅持並履行其對優質內容的承諾。

I'll touch on a few of our first quarter programming highlights and provide a brief look at the strong slate we have for the year ahead. On AMC and AMC+, we brought viewers the latest series and our expanding Walking Dead universe, and it was the biggest one yet. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live became the most viewed series in the history of AMC+ driving the biggest single day of direct to consumer sign-ups in the history of the service.

我將談談我們第一季的一些節目亮點，並簡要介紹我們未來一年的強勁表現。在 AMC 和 AMC+ 上，我們為觀眾帶來了最新的劇集和不斷擴展的《陰屍路》宇宙，這是迄今為止最大的一部。《陰屍路：活著的人》成為 AMC+ 史上收視率最高的劇集，推動了該服務歷史上單日直接面向消費者的註冊量。

It was a hit on linear cable as well with 3 million viewers tuning in for the premiere night telecast. The series was critically acclaimed and attracted significant social media attention during each Sunday night Premiere. This success reflects the continued strength of The Walking Dead Universe and the ability of its characters and stories to command attention and engage fans.

該劇在線性有線電視上也大受歡迎，有 300 萬觀眾收看首播晚間電視節目。該劇廣受好評，並在每週日晚上的首映期間吸引了社交媒體的廣泛關注。這一成功反映了《陰屍路》宇宙的持續實力及其角色和故事吸引註意力和吸引粉絲的能力。

It also underscores our ability to build and grow franchise driven fandoms, which we think we do as well as anyone. This core competency will again be on display this Sunday night with the highly anticipated premiere of the second season of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire on AMC and AMC+. And next month we're excited to introduce a new series in the popular Orphan Black universe, Orphan Black: Echoes, on AMC, AMC+, and BBC America.

它還強調了我們建立和發展特許經營驅動的粉絲圈的能力，我們認為我們在這方面做得和任何人一樣好。隨著安妮賴斯 (Anne Rice) 的《夜訪吸血鬼》第二季在 AMC 和 AMC+ 上備受期待的首播，這一核心能力將在本週日晚間再次展現。下個月，我們很高興在 AMC、AMC+ 和 BBC America 上推出廣受歡迎的《黑色孤兒》宇宙中的新劇集《黑色孤兒：迴聲》。

Our film business has the rights to more than 1,500 titles across our portfolio and continues to carve out a leadership position in the horror genre. The latest example of this is a film called Late Night with the Devil, which had the biggest opening weekend in IFC Films as history on 1,400 screens and significantly outperformed box-office projections. The film recently moved to our shutter higher service where it quickly became the number one film and shatter history while achieving 1 million stream is faster than any other title on the service.

我們的電影業務擁有超過 1,500 部影片的版權，並繼續在恐怖類型片中佔據領導地位。最新的例子是一部名為《深夜與魔鬼》的電影，該片在 1,400 個銀幕上創下了 IFC 電影歷史上首周末票房最高的成績，並且遠遠超過了票房預測。該影片最近轉移到了我們的快門更高的服務，它很快成為排名第一的影片並打破了歷史，同時達到 100 萬串流媒體播放速度比該服務上的任何其他影片都要快。

We continue to super serve passionate anime audiences with our streaming service, high dive, which recently launched a new and improved consumer app. And this summer we'll premiere a new season of the biggest series in its history, Oshi no Ko.

我們繼續透過我們的串流媒體服務 High div 為熱情的動漫觀眾提供超級服務，該服務最近推出了一款新的和改進的消費者應用程式。今年夏天，我們將首播史上最大系列的新一季《忍之子》。

Our popular Acorn TV streaming service, just unveiled a smart and expansive brand refresh and has a great lineup of shows coming over the next few months. As is the case with all our targeted streaming services, we see a real opportunity to lean aggressively into the unique experience and a feeling of community that Acorn's offers its fans. Over the next few months, Acorn's subscribers will have access to new seasons of Harry Wilde starring Jane Seymour. My Life is Murder starring Lucy Lawless, as well as perennial favorite Signora Volpe and Under the Vines.

我們廣受歡迎的 Acorn TV 串流服務剛剛推出了智慧且廣泛的品牌更新，並將在未來幾個月推出一系列精彩節目。與我們所有有針對性的串流媒體服務一樣，我們看到了一個真正的機會，可以積極利用 Acorn's 為其粉絲提供的獨特體驗和社群感覺。在接下來的幾個月裡，Acorn 的訂閱者將可以觀看由簡·西摩主演的新一季《哈利·王爾德》。《我的生活就是謀殺》由露西·勞萊絲主演，還有多年來深受人們喜愛的《沃爾普夫人》和《藤蔓之下》。

WE tv is strategically focusing its original strategy on Friday nights with new series like Deb's House and the Barnes bunch and a new season of the popular Love After Lockup franchise. Friday is our strongest night of the week, particularly with women viewers. We think this represents a real opportunity that will be aided even further by the highly anticipated return of the Braxton Family this summer.

WE tv 策略性地將其原有策略集中在周五晚上，推出《黛布之家》和《巴恩斯一家》等新劇集，以及廣受歡迎的《Love After Lockup》系列新一季。週五是一周中最精彩的夜晚，尤其是對女性觀眾而言。我們認為這是一個真正的機會，備受期待的布拉克斯頓家族今年夏天的回歸將進一步幫助這一機會。

Our programming defines our company and our relationships with viewers, but it also drives the engaged audiences and value we're able to deliver to our commercial partners. We've continued to see strength in our affiliate relationships driven by the low wholesale price of our networks compared to the value we bring with our popular content.

我們的節目定義了我們的公司以及我們與觀眾的關係，但它也推動了觀眾的參與以及我們能夠向商業合作夥伴提供的價值。與我們透過流行內容帶來的價值相比，我們的網路批發價格較低，這推動了我們的聯盟關係不斷增強。

We continue to bring high-quality scripted dramas on Sunday nights on AMC and to test and innovate with our distribution partners. We recently renewed the carriage of our portfolio of linear networks as well as our streaming services with one of our long-standing partners, Verizon.

我們繼續在周日晚上在 AMC 上提供高品質的劇本劇集，並與我們的發行合作夥伴一起進行測試和創新。最近，我們與長期合作夥伴之一的 Verizon 更新了我們的線性網路組合以及串流媒體服務的運輸。

During the quarter we successfully launched BBC News on leading CTV and fast platforms at a time when reliable and impartial news is more important than ever. We're also pleased to see momentum continue to build with new Internet delivered skinny bundles, including Charter's new Spectrum TV stream package, and Comcast Now TV, both of which include all five of our linear networks, as well as BBC News.

本季度，我們在領先的 CTV 和快速平台上成功推出了 BBC 新聞，此時可靠和公正的新聞比以往任何時候都更加重要。我們也很高興看到新的網路交付瘦身捆綁包的勢頭繼續增強，包括 Charter 的新 Spectrum TV 串流媒體包和 Comcast Now TV，兩者都包含我們所有五個線性網路以及 BBC 新聞。

In terms of our international business, last month in the UK, we launched a new streaming offering on ITVX., the British ad-supported streaming service operated by ITV called AMC Stories. A second branded offering AMC reality will launch later this month. In the quarter, we saw strong audience performance in our southern central and northern European divisions. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Lives became the number one show in the history of AMC+ in Spain and just recently premiered in Latin America as well.

在我們的國際業務方面，上個月在英國，我們在 ITVX 上推出了一項新的串流媒體產品，ITVX 是由 ITV 運營的英國廣告支援串流媒體服務，名為 AMC Stories。AMC Reality 的第二個品牌產品將於本月稍後推出。本季度，我們在中南歐和北歐地區看到了強勁的觀眾表現。《陰屍路：活生生的人》成為 AMC+ 西班牙史上排名第一的劇集，最近也在拉丁美洲首播。

As we continue to focus on building our brands, expanding our partner relationships, and serving viewers, we're very confident in our ability to weather the changes that are happening in what remains a dynamic operating environment.

隨著我們繼續專注於打造我們的品牌、擴大我們的合作夥伴關係和為觀眾提供服務，我們對自己應對動態營運環境中正在發生的變化的能力非常有信心。

While Patrick will discuss our financials in detail in just a moment, I'll note that we recently strengthened our balance sheet by completing a series of financing transactions that meaningfully extended our debt maturities. This allows us to continue to leverage our core strengths.

雖然帕特里克將立即詳細討論我們的財務狀況，但我要指出的是，我們最近通過完成一系列融資交易來加強我們的資產負債表，這些交易有意義地延長了我們的債務期限。這使我們能夠繼續發揮我們的核心優勢。

We're generating significant free cash flow and have a strong balance sheet that allows us to focus on deliberate execution of our multiyear strategies. We're taking advantage of our unique position and strengths, and we continue to produce and curate quality content and make it available to viewers across a range of platforms. As the world changes around us, we're successfully reorienting our business and our prospects around the consumer-driven changes that are happening across the industry.

我們正在產生大量的自由現金流，並擁有強大的資產負債表，使我們能夠專注於認真執行我們的多年策略。我們正在利用我們獨特的地位和優勢，繼續製作和策劃優質內容，並透過一系列平台向觀眾提供。隨著我們周圍的世界發生變化，我們正在圍繞整個行業正在發生的消費者驅動的變化成功地重新定位我們的業務和前景。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Patrick.

這樣，我就把電話轉給派崔克。

Thank you, Kristin. We are pleased with our first quarter results, and we remain on track to achieve our financial outlook for the year. This includes year-over-year free cash flow growth for 2024 and approximately $0.5 billion of cumulative free cash flow by the end of 2025.

謝謝你，克里斯汀。我們對第一季的業績感到滿意，並且仍有望實現今年的財務前景。這包括 2024 年自由現金流的年增率以及到 2025 年底約 5 億美元的累計自由現金流。

I'll start with a high-level review of our results for the quarter, then I'll provide a summary of the recent actions we took to strengthen our balance sheet. Then I'll briefly discuss our outlook and then we'll move to Q&A.

我將首先對本季的業績進行高層審查，然後總結我們最近為加強資產負債表而採取的行動。然後我將簡要討論我們的前景，然後我們將進入問答環節。

We've made significant progress in reorienting our business in a tough environment. Our endemic strengths have allowed us to act quickly and decisively to achieve an equilibrium balancing investment at our most important asset, our content for the generation of significant free cash flow to maintain our healthy balance sheet.

在艱難的環境中，我們在調整業務方向方面取得了重大進展。我們的特有優勢使我們能夠迅速而果斷地採取行動，以實現對我們最重要的資產的平衡平衡投資，我們的內容是產生大量自由現金流以維持健康的資產負債表。

While we remain vigilant, we are pleased with the results we see today. This is more than just the strong performance of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live or the diverse and exciting slate we have teed up for the rest of the year, which Kristen just highlighted. But also the meaningful free cash flow we delivered in the first quarter and our expectation of continued cash generation going forward.

儘管我們保持警惕，但我們對今天看到的結果感到滿意。這不僅僅是《行屍走肉：活著的人》的強勁表現，也不僅僅是克里斯汀剛剛強調的我們為今年剩餘時間準備的多樣化和令人興奮的片單。還有我們在第一季交付的有意義的自由現金流以及我們對未來持續產生現金的預期。

Onto our first quarter consolidated results. Consolidated revenue decreased 17% to $596 million in the quarter. Excluding nonrecurring revenue from Silo to AMC Studios series, we produced for Apple TV and 25/7 media in the prior period revenue decreased 6%.

看看我們第一季的綜合業績。本季綜合營收下降 17% 至 5.96 億美元。排除Silo到AMC Studios系列的非經常性收入，我們為Apple TV和25/7媒體製作的上一期收入下降了6%。

Adjusted operating income was $149 million, representing a 25% margin. And we generated $144 million of free cash flow in the quarter. Free cash flow in the quarter increased meaningfully as compared to the prior year period and reflected our proven content investment strategy as well as the timing of productions and certain tax items.

調整後營業收入為 1.49 億美元，利潤率為 25%。本季我們產生了 1.44 億美元的自由現金流。與去年同期相比，本季的自由現金流顯著增加，反映了我們經過驗證的內容投資策略以及製作時間和某些稅收項目。

Touching on our segment financials. Domestic operations revenue decreased 14% to $524 million in the first quarter, excluding Silo, revenue decreased 6%. Content licensing revenue decreased 40% to $62 million due to revenue related to the delivery of episodes of Silo in the prior year period, which was partly offset by the sale of Killing Eve as well as the timing and availability of deliveries in the current period. Excluding the impact of Silo licensing revenue increased 31% year over year.

談到我們的部門財務狀況。第一季國內營運收入下降 14% 至 5.24 億美元，不包括 Silo，營收下降 6%。內容授權收入下降了40%，至6,200 萬美元，原因是去年期間與《筒倉》劇集的交付相關的收入，但部分收入被《殺死伊芙》的銷售以及當期交付的時間和可用性所抵消。排除Silo許可收入的影響，較去年同期成長31%。

On our last call, I discussed how The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead has historically been top performers. Frankly, for us our studio produces a broad array of high-quality content for us to monetize across windows territories. So while those two titles may be important to us in 2024, we expect those titles to represent a modest fraction less than 20% of our domestic operations content licensing revenue.

在我們上次的電話會議上，我討論了《陰屍路》和《陰屍路》如何在歷史上表現出色。坦白說，對我們來說，我們的工作室製作了大量高品質的內容，以便我們在 Windows 領域實現貨幣化。因此，儘管這兩款遊戲在 2024 年可能對我們很重要，但我們預計這些遊戲僅占我們國內營運內容授權收入的不到 20%。

Moving to subscription revenue. Subscription revenue decreased 7% due to a 14% decline in affiliate revenue, which was primarily driven by linear subscriber declines and was partially offset by streaming revenue growth of 3%. The result of a rate event at Shudder, strong growth at HIDIVE, and an increase in total subscribers to 11.5 million at the end of the quarter.

轉向訂閱收入。訂閱收入下降 7%，原因是聯盟收入下降 14%，這主要是由於訂閱者線性下降造成的，但被串流媒體收入成長 3% 部分抵消。這是 Shudder 的費率事件、HIDIVE 的強勁成長以及本季末訂戶總數增加至 1,150 萬的結果。

Advertising revenue declined 13% due to lower Vimeo ratings with acquired programming underperforming relative to our original programming, as well as a difficult ad environment, which was partially offset by continued digital growth.

廣告收入下降了 13%，原因是 Vimeo 收視率較低，收購的節目相對於我們的原始節目表現不佳，以及艱難的廣告環境，但持續的數位成長部分抵消了這一影響。

In terms of marketplace dynamics, we've seen scatter show signs of improvement across linear and digital as the year progresses.

就市場動態而言，隨著時間的推移，我們看到線性和數位領域的分散顯示出改善的跡象。

As we look forward to this year's upfront, one thing we hear consistently is that buyers want more flexibility in how they transact. And we feel well positioned to meet their needs as a market leader with robust buying capabilities to support this market need.

當我們期待今年的預付款時，我們一直聽到的一件事是買家希望交易方式更加靈活。作為市場領導者，我們有能力滿足他們的需求，並擁有強大的購買能力來支持這個市場需求。

Domestic operations AOI was $162 million for the quarter with a healthy margin of 31%. The year-over-year decrease in AOI was largely driven by the revenue decline was partially offset by continued cost discipline.

本季國內業務 AOI 為 1.62 億美元，利潤率為 31%。AOI 年比下降主要是由於收入下降造成的，但持續的成本控制部分抵消了收入下降。

Moving on to our international segment, which as a reminder, no longer includes the results of 25/7 Media. First quarter revenue was $76 million representing a decrease of 3%, excluding the contribution from 25/7 Media in the prior year period. Adjusted operating income was $13 million for the quarter with a margin of 18%.

繼續我們的國際部分，提醒一下，該部分不再包含 25/7 Media 的結果。第一季營收為 7,600 萬美元，下降 3%，不包括 25/7 Media 去年同期的貢獻。該季度調整後營業收入為 1,300 萬美元，利潤率為 18%。

Moving to the balance sheet. In April, we completed a series of financing transactions to proactively address upcoming maturities. This included tapping the market to issue $875 million of new 2029 senior secured notes, retiring all $775 million of our existing senior unsecured notes due 2025 and extending the maturity of our credit facility to 2028.

轉向資產負債表。4 月份，我們完成了一系列融資交易，以積極應對即將到期的問題。這包括利用市場發行 8.75 億美元的 2029 年新高級有擔保票據，註銷 2025 年到期的全部 7.75 億美元現有高級無擔保票據，並將信貸安排的期限延長至 2028 年。

Adjusted for the closing of these transactions, we ended the quarter with net debt of approximately $1.7 billion and the consolidated net leverage ratio about 2.8 times. Adjust for the closing of these transactions, we currently have approximately $775 million of total liquidity, including approximately $600 million of cash on the balance sheet ,and our undrawn $175 million revolver.

根據這些交易的結束進行調整後，本季末我們的淨債務約為 17 億美元，綜合淨槓桿率約為 2.8 倍。根據這些交易的結束進行調整，我們目前擁有約 7.75 億美元的總流動資金，其中包括資產負債表上約 6 億美元的現金，以及未提取的 1.75 億美元的左輪手槍。

Since the third quarter of 2023, we have paid down more than $500 million of gross debt. The proactive and prudent management of our balance sheet affords us valuable flexibility as well as the ability to fully focus on the evolution of our business as the new video landscape continues to take shape. We appreciate the flexibility and optionality that our current cash balance affords us. Additionally, we believe that our current capital structure present potential opportunities for us to deploy our cash flow in a value-accretive manner over time.

自 2023 年第三季以來，我們已償還了超過 5 億美元的總債務。隨著新視訊格局的不斷形成，對資產負債表的主動和審慎管理為我們提供了寶貴的靈活性以及充分關注業務發展的能力。我們讚賞當前現金餘額為我們提供的靈活性和選擇性。此外，我們相信，我們目前的資本結構為我們提供了潛在的機會，可以隨著時間的推移以增值的方式部署我們的現金流。

On the topic of capital allocation, our philosophy remains prudent and opportunistic. First, we look to support the business by creating and acquiring compelling programming that resonates with our audiences while maintaining healthy levels of profitability and cash flow generation.

在資本配置方面，我們的理念仍然是審慎和機會主義。首先，我們希望透過創建和獲取引人注目的節目來支持業務，這些節目與我們的觀眾產生共鳴，同時保持健康的盈利水平和現金流生成。

Second, we look to improve our balance sheet by reducing gross debt and optimizing our capital structure. Third, strategic M&A and returning capital to shareholders remain further down our current priority list.

其次，我們希望透過減少總債務和優化資本結構來改善資產負債表。第三，策略併購和向股東返還資本仍然是我們當前優先事項的重點。

I'll now summarize and reiterate our outlook. We are pleased to reiterate that we expect to grow free cash flow year over year in 2024, and that by 2025, we expect to have generated cumulative free cash flow of approximately $0.5 billion. Regarding revenue, we continue to expect total revenue of approximately $2.4 billion for the full year.

現在我將總結並重申我們的展望。我們很高興地重申，我們預計 2024 年自由現金流將逐年成長，到 2025 年，我們預計將產生約 5 億美元的累積自由現金流。關於收入，我們繼續預計全年總收入約為 24 億美元。

Moving to AOI. For 2024, we continue to expect consolidated AOI of $550 million to $575 million. Continued streaming and digital advertising growth as well as disciplined expense management remain a focus despite revenue headwinds in the New Year business. We also continue to expect programming amortization to be similar to 2023 levels and cash programming spend to be approximately $1 billion in 2024.

轉向 AOI。2024 年，我們繼續預期合併 AOI 為 5.5 億至 5.75 億美元。儘管新年業務收入遇到阻力，但持續的串流媒體和數位廣告成長以及嚴格的費用管理仍然是焦點。我們也繼續預期 2024 年節目攤銷將與 2023 年水準相似，現金節目支出約為 10 億美元。

Before we open it up for Q&A, I would like to reiterate what I've said before in the past regarding our overarching financial approach. AMC Networks is employing a back-to-basics approach that emphasizes broad distribution of our content across platforms and prioritizes near-term monetization, while at the same time taking advantage of our unique position as a nimble and innovative premium programmer.

在我們開始問答之前，我想重申我之前所說的關於我們整體財務方法的內容。AMC Networks 採用返璞歸真的方法，強調跨平台廣泛分發我們的內容並優先考慮短期盈利，同時利用我們作為靈活和創新的優質程式設計師的獨特地位。

We'll continue to allocate our capital wisely to ensure we maintain a healthy balance sheet remained extremely disciplined on expenses and balance appropriate levels of programming investment against available monetization opportunities. We are pleased with the progress we've made on these fronts and look forward to delivering one of the strongest content slates, AMC Networks has had in recent memory.

我們將繼續明智地分配我們的資本，以確保我們保持健康的資產負債表，在支出方面保持嚴格的紀律，並平衡適當水平的編程投資與可用的貨幣化機會。我們對在這些方面取得的進展感到高興，並期待提供 AMC Networks 最近記憶中最強大的內容板之一。

Operator, please open the line for questions.

接線員，請開通提問線。

(Operator Instructions) David Joyce, Seaport Research Partners.

（操作員說明）David Joyce，海港研究合作夥伴。

Thank you. Thank you. On the distribution side of things, I was wondering what are you seeing in terms of the incremental cord cutters from here? Is it a fact -- factor of older demographics not being replaced by the younger cord nevers? Or are you still seeing the people who are looking for some price differential? And if it is pricing, what do you think it will take to get the industry to -- and I think you are maybe further along thematically than some other entities. But in terms of making a program available on whatever platform, but what's it going to take for the whole industry to be agnostic as to where subscribers are watching? Thanks.

謝謝。謝謝。在分銷方面，我想知道您對這裡的增量剪線器有何看法？這是一個事實嗎──老年人口沒有被年輕的人口取代？或者您仍然看到那些尋求價格差異的人？如果是定價，你認為需要什麼才能讓產業達到目標——我認為你在主題上可能比其他一些實體走得更遠。但就在任何平台上提供節目而言，整個行業如何不知道訂戶在哪裡觀看？謝謝。

Hi, David, it's Kristin. That was a long one. Good morning.

嗨，大衛，我是克莉絲汀。那是一篇很長的文章。早安.

Across the board, I think we're seeing -- you saw we had some growth in our streaming subscriptions this quarter and which is interesting for us, because we haven't actually scraped our linear programming to support our streaming services. So for us, we're somewhat agnostic to the platform in which we deliver the content because we give everybody all of our best stuff regardless of where they want to watch.

總的來說，我認為我們看到——你看到本季度我們的串流訂閱量有所增長，這對我們來說很有趣，因為我們實際上還沒有取消線性節目來支持我們的串流媒體服務。因此，對我們來說，我們對提供內容的平台有些不可知，因為我們為每個人提供所有最好的內容，無論他們想在哪裡觀看。

But I do think the skinny bundles will probably help as more distributors focus on ad opportunity and then seeing things like unlimited broadband from Comcast and different approaches to just distribution of broadband capabilities will probably help kind of smooth some of this out going forward.

但我確實認為，隨著越來越多的發行商專注於廣告機會，然後看到康卡斯特的無限寬頻以及寬頻功能分配的不同方法之類的東西，瘦身捆綁可能會有所幫助，這可能有助於緩解其中的一些問題。

But for us, again, our motto has always been to deliver everything we can to whoever wants to view it in whatever format they want to view it. So that's really our focus particularly since we're not tied to a distributor.

但對我們來說，我們的座右銘始終是向任何想要以任何格式觀看的人提供我們所能提供的一切。所以這確實是我們的重點，特別是因為我們不依賴經銷商。

Do you still have more of those agreements to come or are you already set?

您還有更多這樣的協議即將簽署還是已經確定了？

Yeah. Hey, David, it's Patrick. I'll take it. Yeah, listen, we've got fantastic relationships with our existing distributors. Obviously, we just recently announced the renewal of our deal with Verizon. You should assume that even at any given point, we're sitting in front of between 25% and 50% of our distribution footprint.

是的。嘿，大衛，我是派崔克。我要買它。是的，聽著，我們與現有的經銷商有著良好的關係。顯然，我們最近剛剛宣布與 Verizon 續約協議。您應該假設，即使在任何給定點，我們的分銷足跡也都處於 25% 到 50% 之間。

As you well know, these are long-standing, highly symbiotic relationships that are multidimensional in terms of their economics. We add tremendous value into these -- to these distributors and also obviously to the end consumer, given that our programming punches way above its weight from a kind of price to -- an audience delivery perspective.

眾所周知，這些是長期存在的、高度共生的關係，在經濟方面是多維的。我們為這些分銷商以及最終消費者增加了巨大的價值，因為我們的節目從價格到觀眾交付的角度都遠遠超出了其自身的重量。

So we like those dynamics that are appreciated by our distributors and we continue to have sort of very open constructive and frankly, innovative conversations with these distributors as the world continues to evolve here in terms of having interest to be streaming products, having them participate on the advertising side of the business, et cetera.

因此，我們喜歡那些受到我們的分銷商讚賞的動態，並且我們繼續與這些分銷商進行非常開放的建設性和坦率的創新對話，因為世界在對串流媒體產品感興趣、讓他們參與業務的廣告方面等等。

So it's really more the evolution that Kristin described. So we feel well situated in that regard given how much value we add into the traditional bundle. And we think that carries over as a perfect analog as this sort of rebundling of streaming products comes to the floor as well. So we like the cards that we hold in that respect.

所以這其實更像是克里斯汀所描述的進化。因此，考慮到我們為傳統捆綁包添加了多少價值，我們在這方面感覺處於有利位置。我們認為，隨著這種串流媒體產品的重新捆綁，這也是一個完美的模擬。所以我們喜歡我們在這方面持有的牌。

Alright. Thank you.

好吧。謝謝。

Thomas Yeh, Morgan Stanley.

湯瑪斯葉，摩根士丹利。

Thanks so much. I wanted to ask about churn management opportunities on the streaming side. You cited some strong customer acquisition, but I think the net adds decelerated a little bit in the quarter relative to 4Q. Does the programming schedule ahead or any other mechanism you see as an opportunity to control a little bit for churn from show to show? And maybe talk a bit about the overall programming slate and how that helps with the managing the churn over time?

非常感謝。我想詢問串流媒體方面的流失管理機會。您提到了一些強勁的客戶獲取，但我認為本季的淨增加量相對於第四季度略有放緩。您認為提前的節目安排或任何其他機制是否可以作為控制節目間流失的機會？也許可以談談整體程式設計板，以及隨著時間的推移，這如何有助於管理客戶流失？

Great. It's Kristin. I'll speak to the churn and then I'll let Dan speak a little bit about our programming.

偉大的。這是克里斯汀。我將談談客戶流失情況，然後讓 Dan 談談我們的程式設計。

Our goal with all our streaming services, as we've talked about over the past few years is to provide a really good price value equation. And given that we're significantly less expensive on our targeted streaming services, we see lower churn, particularly on products like Acorn and HIDIVE. And so, both of those services have undergone in the last quarter rate events, rate increases where we saw minimal impact to our subscriptions. And then we're also seeing increased engagement on each of those services, as well as on Shudder, which we mentioned before.

正如我們過去幾年所討論的那樣，我們所有串流媒體服務的目標是提供一個非常好的價格價值方程式。鑑於我們在目標串流服務上的成本要低得多，我們看到客戶流失率較低，特別是在 Acorn 和 HIDIVE 等產品上。因此，這兩項服務在上個季度都經歷了費率事件，費率上漲，我們認為對我們的訂閱影響最小。然後我們也看到這些服務以及我們之前提到的 Shudder 的參與度增加。

So we feel pretty confident, very confident actually that the services provide a robust platform of programming for very specific segments of people. And then as we look at the programming slate, we're also identifying opportunities to share content amongst the different streaming services because the audiences are somewhat unique. So we're monetizing what we have in a variety of places and then really super serving the fans of the niche services that we offer at a competitive price.

因此，我們非常有信心，實際上非常有信心，這些服務為特定人群提供了強大的程式設計平台。然後，當我們查看節目單時，我們也在尋找在不同串流媒體服務之間共享內容的機會，因為觀眾有些獨特。因此，我們正在將我們在各個地方擁有的資源貨幣化，然後以具有競爭力的價格為我們提供的利基服務的粉絲提供真正的超級服務。

So Dan, I don't know if you want to add on the content slate.

丹，我不知道你是否想添加內容。

I'll just reiterate, our services super serve passionate fan communities that engage distinct audiences. And we're designed to operate efficiently at a much more reasonable level of subscribers compared to larger general entertainment services. And this drives lower levels of churn and win backs.

我重申一下，我們的服務超級服務於吸引不同受眾的熱情粉絲社群。與規模更大的一般娛樂服務相比，我們的目標是在更合理的訂戶層級上有效運作。這會降低客戶流失率和贏回率。

We have -- as you know, we have five streaming platform -- five linear platforms and seven streaming platforms as well as 18 FAST channels and multiple AVOD platforms. So consequently, our ability to efficiently window content throughout our ecosystem allows for maximum audience exposure and aggregation and importantly, revenue generation. And this is one of the things that makes us really distinct and compelling.

如您所知，我們有五個串流媒體平台，五個線性平台和七個串流媒體平台，以及 18 個 FAST 頻道和多個 AVOD 平台。因此，我們在整個生態系統中有效地展示內容的能力可以實現最大程度的受眾曝光和聚集，更重要的是，可以產生收入。這是讓我們真正與眾不同、引人注目的原因之一。

Got it. And Kristen, you sounded excited about the ad-supported streaming opportunity. We've heard about elevated inventory driving some pressure on premium CPMs as more entrants come into the space. Is there any color on just market dynamics around AVOD and CPMs and what you expect out of the opportunity to maybe replicate the ARPU that you're seeing on that ad free side?

知道了。克里斯汀，你聽起來對廣告支援的串流機會感到興奮。我們聽說，隨著更多的進入者進入該領域，庫存增加給優質每千次展示費用帶來了一些壓力。圍繞 AVOD 和 CPM 的市場動態是否有任何色彩，以及您期望從複製您在無廣告方面看到的 ARPU 的機會中得到什麼？

I'm glad you picked up on that, Thomas. We are very excited about ad-supported version of AMC+, and then we can speak to that a little bit. And then as well as our announcement about launching ad-supported versions of our other streaming services in the next 12 months and beyond.

我很高興你明白了這一點，湯瑪斯。我們對 AMC+ 的廣告支援版本感到非常興奮，然後我們可以談談這一點。然後我們也宣布將在未來 12 個月及以後推出其他串流媒體服務的廣告支援版本。

So Kim, you want to just spend a minute on the CPM, this stuff gets a little heady, but --

所以 Kim，你想花一分鐘討論 CPM，這東西有點令人興奮，但是--

Sure. I actually -- it's a good time for the question. It's a little early for upfront predictions right now, but we feel it's going to be a solid upfront. And we think that we are pricing our premium content in a very thoughtful way. We're not looking to outprice it. So we'll leave it to others to compete in that space.

當然。事實上，現在是問這個問題的好時機。現在進行前期預測還為時過早，但我們認為這將是一個可靠的前期預測。我們認為我們正在以非常深思熟慮的方式定價我們的優質內容。我們並不打算定價超過它。因此，我們將把這個領域的競爭留給其他人。

We're looking to actually serve impressions across all of our distributions and continue to put together a solution for our marketer and advertisers need to reach as many of their targeted subscribers as possible across the entire media ecosystem. But we're not looking to outprice ourselves and feel we are in a competitive place right now.

我們希望真正為我們所有的發行版提供印象服務，並繼續為我們的行銷人員和廣告商提供解決方案，以在整個媒體生態系統中覆蓋盡可能多的目標訂閱者。但我們並不打算超越自己，並認為我們現在處於競爭地位。

Understood. Thank you.

明白了。謝謝。

Robert Fishman, MoffettNathanson.

羅伯特‧菲什曼，莫菲特‧內森森。

Hi. Good morning, everyone. I'm wondering if you can talk more about your bundling strategy for AMC+ and your other streaming services. Curious, how should we think about the opportunity for the company to participate in a broader industry reaggregating of streaming services, maybe through direct company partnerships like the recently announced Disney+, Hulu, and Max Deal? Or do you see the aggregation pass more just through the typical standard aggregators like Amazon or Roku?

你好。大家早安。我想知道您是否可以更多地談談 AMC+ 和其他串流媒體服務的捆綁策略。好奇的是，我們應該如何考慮該公司參與更廣泛的串流媒體服務產業重組的機會，也許可以透過最近宣布的 Disney+、Hulu 和 Max Deal 等公司直接合作夥伴關係？或者您認為聚合更多地透過典型的標準聚合器（例如 Amazon 或 Roku）傳遞？

And maybe just add, if there's any way to share like what percent of your streaming subs today come direct through or through third party? Thank you.

也許只是補充一下，是否有任何方式可以分享，例如今天您的串流訂閱者中直接通過或透過第三方的百分比是多少？謝謝。

Hey, Robert, it's Kristin. Unfortunately can't answer the last question on the D2C versus partners. But I will say that we see great opportunity in bundles or the work that we did last summer with MAX was really positive for us in garnering insights and also helping us understand the ability to put the AMC brand in its own space amongst other content that people can subscribe to.

嘿，羅伯特，我是克里斯汀。遺憾的是，無法回答有關 D2C 與合作夥伴的最後一個問題。但我要說的是，我們在捆綁中看到了巨大的機會，或者我們去年夏天與MAX 所做的工作對我們獲得見解非常積極，也幫助我們了解將AMC 品牌與人們所喜愛的其他內容放在自己的空間中的能力。

So we're actually, we're excited to hear about the Disney+, Hulu, MAX bundle. We think in an odd way, it is sort of recreating family cable and putting all the entertainment products together. And we -- as evidenced last summer, feel we sit quite nicely along the same lines with our content from AMC, AMC+, and all of our other services.

事實上，我們很高興聽到 Disney+、Hulu、MAX 套裝的消息。我們以一種奇怪的方式認為，這有點像重新創建家庭有線電視並將所有娛樂產品放在一起。正如去年夏天所證明的那樣，我們感覺我們的內容與 AMC、AMC+ 以及我們所有其他服務的內容非常吻合。

So we expect to see more streaming bundles. We are more than happy, as we've said, to participate in them, and we have quite a few conversations going on right now that we hope to share some insights on going forward.

因此，我們預計會看到更多的串流媒體捆綁包。正如我們所說，我們非常高興能夠參與其中，我們現在正在進行許多對話，我們希望分享一些關於未來的見解。

Do you want to add anything, Kim?

你想補充什麼嗎，金？

Yes, I'd love to. We've been an early adopter of bundles being one of the first to bundle on Verizon +play with Netflix. And then we have current bundles right now with both MGM and Stars that are performing very well. And we continue to pursue opportunities with other programmers in this space, both on the D2C and partner side.

是的，我很樂意。我們是捆綁包的早期採用者，也是第一批在 Verizon +play 上與 Netflix 捆綁的公司之一。然後，我們現在與米高梅和明星的捆綁銷售都表現得非常好。我們將繼續在 D2C 和合作夥伴方面與該領域的其他程式設計師尋求機會。

Actually -- Sorry, Robert. the one thing I was going to add is the ad-supported versions of the targeted services now offer us additional opportunities because we can bundle with people that are also ad-supported. So it really doubles -- it allows us to double down on opportunities in this area. So we feel really well positioned.

事實上——對不起，羅伯特。我要補充的一件事是，目標服務的廣告支援版本現在為我們提供了額外的機會，因為我們可以與同樣支援廣告的人捆綁在一起。所以它確實是雙倍的——它使我們能夠加倍抓住這一領域的機會。所以我們感覺自己處於有利位置。

Perfect. Thank you.

完美的。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) Charles Wilber, Guggenheim Securities.

（操作員指令）查爾斯‧威爾伯（Charles Wilber），古根漢證券公司。

Hi, good morning. Thank you. Two, if I may. First, on content licensing. You noted, excluding the Silo comp that, that was up about 31%. I wondered if you could share any color on what drove that underlying growth and kind of how to think about the puts and takes in the balance of the year. I know there was some impact from accelerating the Hulu agreement last year.

嗨，早安。謝謝。如果可以的話，兩個。首先，關於內容許可。您注意到，不包括 Silo comp，該數字增長了約 31%。我想知道您是否可以分享推動潛在成長的因素以及如何思考今年餘額中的看跌選擇權和收益。我知道去年 Hulu 協議的加速簽署產生了一些影響。

And then secondly, on affiliate trends. I believe you've now lapped the Fubo nonrenewal there and so it appears that underlying affiliate trends may have accelerated a bit sequentially in the first quarter here. So just any color on drivers here rate versus volume or anything? And whether there's any updates to the full year outlook of the 10% decline given that you didn't reiterate that in the prepared remarks there. Thank you.

其次，關於聯盟趨勢。我相信您現在已經接受了 Fubo 的非續訂，因此看來潛在的聯盟趨勢可能在第一季連續加速了一點。那麼驅動程式上的任何顏色都是速率與音量之類的嗎？鑑於您沒有在準備好的演講中重申這一點，是否有關於全年 10% 下降的展望的更新。謝謝。

Hey, Charles, it's Patrick. Thanks for the question. I'll take them in turn. First on content licensing, I think we've said consistently, there's always a robust market for premium programming, and I think we saw that in Q1, we called out the sale of Killing Eve in particular.

嘿，查爾斯，我是派崔克。謝謝你的提問。我會依序帶他們去。首先在內容授權方面，我想我們一直在說，優質節目總是有一個強勁的市場，我想我們在第一季就看到了這一點，我們特別呼籲出售《殺死伊芙》。

So we feel very good about the remainder of the year. We obviously gone back a bunch of content as we unwound the Hulu deal last year. So that is content that is sitting on the shelf. We've got line of sight across both international and domestic markets. And there's some interesting opportunities percolating there, I would say so -- more to come, but we feel kind of very good about that.

所以我們對今年剩下的時間感覺非常好。去年我們解除了 Hulu 交易後，顯然我們收回了很多內容。這就是擱置在架子上的內容。我們的視野遍及國際和國內市場。我想說的是，那裡正在滲透出一些有趣的機會——還會有更多機會，但我們對此感覺非常好。

On the affiliate side, I'd reiterate what I said. At the top of the call, which is these relationships are very healthy, very dynamic. We're in conversations with partners continuously here, hear you on the 14% in Q1. But I think as we said before as well, we're taking deliberate actions here to be proactive with many of our partners, extend the durations of our deals. So whilst the cord cutting is minus 7% or so, our universe looks have a little bit differ than that. So it's kind of high single digits on our affiliated universe.

在附屬機構方面，我會重申我所說的話。在電話會議的頂部，這些關係非常健康，非常有活力。我們在這裡不斷與合作夥伴對話，聽聽您對第一季 14% 的看法。但我認為正如我們之前所說，我們正在採取深思熟慮的行動，與我們的許多合作夥伴一起積極主動，延長我們的交易期限。因此，雖然斷線率是負 7% 左右，但我們的宇宙看起來卻與此略有不同。因此，對於我們的附屬宇宙來說，這是一個很高的個位數。

So I just kind of put that on the table for you as well to incorporate into your thinking. But we are very much focused on duration here, and we'll trade a little bit duration for a little bit of rate as the deals come up. So I would think about that as well. But no, we're holding on the guidance broadly, both in terms of total revenue and the components for now. Thanks.

所以我只是把它放在桌面上供您參考，以便將其納入您的想法中。但我們非常關注這裡的久期，隨著交易的出現，我們將用一點久期換取一點利率。所以我也會考慮這一點。但不，我們目前在總收入和組成部分方面都維持廣泛的指導。謝謝。

Great. Thank you.

偉大的。謝謝。

Steven Cahall, Wells Fargo.

史蒂文卡霍爾，富國銀行。

Thank you. Three for me maybe. So first Patrick, thank you for the two year free cash flow guide, really big free cash flow in the quarter. Should we think of any of the $0.5 billion being more heavily weighted to 2024 versus 2025? Or was this kind of some timing of spend in Q1?

謝謝。對我來說可能是三個。首先，帕特里克，感謝您提供的兩年自由現金流指南，該季度的自由現金流確實很大。我們是否應該認為 2024 年的 5 億美元中的任何一個比 2025 年的權重更大？還是這是第一季的某種支出時機？

And then secondly, just on your licensing philosophy overall, I think you got fear back from Hulu late last year. I think you have international rights for The Walking Dead. Maybe coming back this year and domestic isn't too far off. Is the kind of philosophy here that you want to put all this together and then you can relicense it for a bigger sum? Or do you think more about keeping it exclusively on your own streaming services to drive value?

其次，就你們的整體許可理念而言，我認為去年年底你們從 Hulu 那裡得到了恐懼。我認為你們擁有《陰屍路》的國際版權。也許今年回歸，國內也就不遠了。這裡的哲學是你想把所有這些放在一起，然後你可以重新授權以獲得更大的金額嗎？或者您是否更多地考慮將其專門保留在您自己的串流媒體服務上以推動價值？

And then just lastly, how do you think about AMC as a studio for third parties? I know you've kind of walked away from Silo, which was very capital intensive, focused more on programming of your own assets. It does seem like there's still a pretty strong demand for projects in the broader streaming community. So how do you think about kind of AMC as a studio versus a network or a platform at this point? Thank you.

最後，您如何看待 AMC 作為第三方工作室？我知道您已經放棄了資金密集的筒倉，更專注於對自己的資產進行程式設計。看來更廣泛的串流媒體社群對專案的需求仍然相當強勁。那麼，您目前如何看待 AMC 作為工作室與網路或平台的差異？謝謝。

Hey, Steven, it's Patrick. We'll take these in turn. I'll start with number one on the free cash flow, really healthy quarter. As you noted, it was more timing than anything else in terms of just production. We also had a couple of tax items in there, both on just tax credit as well as reasonably kind of modest tax event that gave us low tens of millions of dollars in the quarter to the good.

嘿，史蒂文，我是派崔克。我們將依次處理這些。我將從自由現金流開始，這是一個非常健康的季度。正如您所指出的，就生產而言，這比其他任何事情都更重要。我們還有一些稅收項目，既包括稅收抵免，也包括合理的適度稅收事件，這使我們在本季度獲得了數千萬美元的收益。

In terms of 2024 versus 2025, I think we'll stick with what we've been saying consistently, which is we're going to grow over the run rate free cash flow out of 2023, which is $231 million. So we feel really good about growing that into 2024 and continue to feel very good about the $0.5 billion over 2024 and 2025. But this was a really heavy quarter, recognize that. So it will be not quite as heavy going forward here, obviously, given the guide there. So that's the free cash flow piece.

就 2024 年與 2025 年而言，我認為我們將堅持我們一直以來所說的，即我們將在 2023 年之後的運行率自由現金流上實現增長，即 2.31 億美元。因此，我們對將其增長到 2024 年感到非常滿意，並且繼續對 2024 年和 2025 年 5 億美元感到非常滿意。但要認識到這一點，這是一個非常沉重的季度。因此，考慮到那裡的指南，顯然這裡的進展不會那麼繁重。這就是自由現金流部分。

Hi, Steve, it's Kim. I'm going to jump in on the licensing. And I would say it's -- we're really thoughtful about it. When you have franchises like Sphere and The Walking Dead coming -- rights coming back our way, we look at each of these franchises very carefully in a considered way, especially internationally, it's more region by region. Where can we monetize it most effectively and make sure we're reaching the largest number of bands.

嗨，史蒂夫，我是金。我要開始討論許可問題。我想說的是——我們對此非常深思熟慮。當像《Sphere》和《行屍走肉》這樣的特許經營權回歸我們的方式時，我們會以深思熟慮的方式非常仔細地審視每一個特許經營權，尤其是在國際上，它更多地是一個地區一個地區的。我們在哪裡可以最有效地貨幣化並確保我們接觸到最多數量的樂隊。

So it's not a one size fits all. We're very, very careful about and thoughtful about how we license these franchises. So if it makes sense in one territory to roll everything up into a larger Walking Dead package, we will consider that and are having those conversations. And where it makes sense to hold it back, we will hold it back, based on our own streaming plans.

所以它不是一刀切的。我們對於如何授權這些特許經營權非常非常謹慎和深思熟慮。因此，如果在一個領域將所有內容整合到一個更大的《陰屍路》包中是有意義的，我們會考慮這一點並進行這些對話。在需要保留的地方，我們會根據我們自己的串流媒體計劃保留它。

It's Kristen. I just want to reiterate you said to your question, Steven, relicensing for a bigger sum or keeping it, we really do both depending on the area. So that's, I think, what's allowed us to continue to optimize our growth in the content distribution revenue line.

這是克里斯汀。我只是想重申你對你的問題所說的，史蒂文，重新授權以獲得更大的金額或保留它，我們確實根據地區而定。我認為，這就是我們能夠繼續優化內容分發收入線成長的原因。

Dan, do you want to --

丹，你想嗎--

Steven, this is Dan. I'll take the video piece. So AMC Studios is a vibrant and productive group that produces for every one of our platforms. And these shows enable us to build a library, which accrues real value over time for the company and allows us to execute on the monetization of this content, the long-tail monetization now and over time. And so the studio is really important to us. And as we're producing for outside platforms, our production capabilities and the volume of programming that we produce at AMC Studios gives us the opportunity to be highly tactical and selective.

史蒂文，這是丹。我就拿影片片段來說吧。因此，AMC Studios 是一個充滿活力且富有成效的團隊，為我們的每個平台製作。這些節目使我們能夠建立一個圖書館，隨著時間的推移，它會為公司帶來真正的價值，並使我們能夠執行這些內容的貨幣化，即現在和未來的長尾貨幣化。所以工作室對我們來說非常重要。當我們為外部平台製作時，我們的製作能力和 AMC Studios 製作的節目量使我們有機會採取高度戰術性和選擇性。

And when we have shows like Silo that don't fit for us but fit for other platforms, we're going to take advantage of those opportunities. It's not our primary business, but we certainly envision producing more shows rail-type platforms as we proceed forward.

當我們有像 Silo 這樣不適合我們但適合其他平台的節目時，我們將利用這些機會。這不是我們的主要業務，但我們當然希望隨著我們的前進，生產更多的軌道式演出平台。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Okay. And I'm showing no further callers. I would like to turn the conference back to Nicolas for closing remarks.

好的。我不會再顯示更多的來電者。我想請尼可拉斯致閉幕詞。

Thank you all for joining us today. This concludes the call. Have a nice day.

感謝大家今天加入我們。通話就此結束。祝你今天過得愉快。

Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。