James Dolan Takes The Mic: On AMC Networks Earnings Call, Owner Explains Choice Of His Wife, Kristin, As CEO And Addresses M&A Prospects And Streaming Challenges As Stock Soars

13D and 13G reports. For those outside of the inside-baseball world of corporate finance: Forty-five days out from the end of the year, companies are required to have filed 13D and 13G disclosure forms with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These reports are required for investors who amass 5% or more of a company’s total stock issue. Starting with this primer on how to monitor big-dollar investment bets, Variety will offer a quarterly survey of how the media and entertainment sector is faring among the world’s most sophisticated stock pickers.

Robert Webb has described his heart surgery as a “gift” as it forced him to think about his health and put himself first. The actor and comedian, 50, is best known for appearing alongside David Mitchell in Channel 4 comedy Peep Show, where he plays unemployed musician Jez, and in sketch show That Mitchell And Webb Look. In 2019, he had a routine medical check during filming for the second series of his Channel 4 sitcom Back, alongside Mitchell, which revealed he had a congenital heart defect.

Singer Peter Andre has been forced to defend himself after an online fan accused him of neglecting his wife Emily MacDonagh in a brand new snap posted to Instagram. Following his attendance at the Together for Short Lives ball last night - at which he exclusively told OK! he has strict rules when it comes to his children making it in showbiz - Peter, 50, posted a series of photos at the event.

BTS’ J-Hope is about to release his dream collaboration with his childhood idol.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor AMC Networks’ Sentai Filmworks unit reached an agreement with Japan’s Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS) that provides exclusive rights for AMC’s anime-focused HIDIVE streaming service to distribute part of MBS’s future programming lineup in all global markets outside of Asia. The pact is Sentai’s biggest-ever deal for anime content, according to the company. The output deal encompasses MBS’s programming slate based on a collection of popular manga and light novel titles. All of the shows will be available exclusively on HIDIVE outside of Asia. Among the shows covered in the Sentai-MBS output is “The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior” (pictured above). The new show, scheduled to premiere in July 2023, is a 12-episode series based on hit fantasy light novel by Tenichi and published by Ichijinsha. The series is being directed by Norio Nitta and written by Deko Akao with animation by OLM.

Rosario Dawson) Travis (Chase W. Dillon) inside their new home! On Wednesday, Disney dropped the first teaser trailer for its upcoming film, based on the famed Disney park ride -- and things are getting comically scary.Things kick off as Gabbie and Travis arrive at their new home and are greeted by a dead bride and chased by a knight that comes to life.

BreAnna Bell Polaris, the television network and digital platform owned by radio personality Sway Calloway and Rahman J. Dukes, is partnering with Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group (AMG) free-streaming digital platform, HBCU GO in an exclusive deal to create content for the video on demand service as well as AMG’s other properties including The Grio. The programming will be focused on culture, music and news with special coverage around cultural moments including a special celebrating the 50th year anniversary of Hip Hop, and an investigative series around Jam Master Jay. “It’s important for us to showcase not only the amazing sports and news programming, but also the heartbeat of the HBCU and Black Experience – our culture,” said Byron Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group. “This new partnership with Polaris will provide amazing programming for our HBCU GO and TheGrio audiences highlighting music, Black culture and more.”

Brent Lang Executive Editor Even a return trip to Pandora wasn’t enough to lift quarterly earnings at AMC Theatres. Despite the box office success of “Avatar: The Way of Water,” revenues at the world’s largest cinema chain fell 15% in the fourth quarter, topping out at $990.4 million. That was down from $1.17 billion in the prior-year period. Losses also widened, as AMC posted a net loss of $287.7 million, a steeper shortfall than the $134.4 million in losses it recorded a year ago. AMC lost 26 cents per share, compared to a loss of 13 cents in the same quarter in 2021. That fell short of Wall Street’s projections. Analysts were expecting quarterly revenue of $1.05 billion and earnings loss of 22 cents per share. AMC’s stock was briefly up nearly 4% in after-hours trading before falling back into negative territory.

Endeavor sales dipped 16% to $1.26 billion last quarter from the year before due mostly to the absence of its divested Endeavor Content business as it posted an upbeat fourth quarter. A diversified biz and focus on sports and live events limit the ad hit faced by other media companies, and it has yet to feel much of a pinch from any slowdown in content spending by the majors.

Waco: The Aftermath, a sequel series to Paramount Network’s 2018 miniseries, has rounded out its cast, finding its Timothy McVeigh and adding the likes of Gary Cole.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The “Waco: The Aftermath” series at Showtime has added 10 new cast members, Variety has learned. The new cast members for the followup to Paramount Networks’ “Waco” include: Shea Whigham, who will reprise the role of Mitch Decker, the FBI agent who managed the situation leading up the siege; Annika Marks, who will reprise the role of Kathy Schroeder, one of the surviving Branch Davidians who was also called upon to testify; Alex Breaux, who will play Timothy McVeigh; Michael Cassidy, who will play Bill Johnston, the lead prosecutor in the trial of the Branch Davidians; Gary Cole, who will play Gordon Novel, described as an “intense private investigator;” Nicholas Kolev, who will play Paul Fatta, another one of the Davidians on trial after the Waco siege; Michael Luwoye, who will play Livingstone Fagan, described as “an extremely bright biblical scholar and one of the surviving Branch Davidians on trial;” Kali Rocha, who will play Ruth Riddle, one of the Branch Davidian survivors facing trial and the possibility of life in jail; Michael Vincent Barry, who will play George Roden, one of the early leaders of the Davidian sect; and Sasheer Zamata, who will play Angie Graham, described as “a smart, experienced ATF agent.”

Dylan has shared a brand new song called ‘Every Heart But Mine’, complete with a choir featuring Cat Burns, Rachel Chinouriri and more.The rising star, real name Natasha Woods, shared her recent mixtape ‘The Greatest Thing I’ll Never Learn’ last October via Island Records, and has returned with her first new music of 2023.As Dylan reveals, the collaborative nature of the song – which also features Mae Muller, Sody and Beren Olivia – came about after the singer met some of her musician friends to discuss its meaning.“I have been waiting for this song to come out forever because for me, it is the biggest confidence booster of a lyric.” Dylan said. “I think the song has many meanings behind it.

has exited the ITV soap amid the major racial violence story, after his character’s final scenes aired as Blake was sentenced for the vicious stabbing of Alya Nazir (Sair Khan) as well as the attempted murder of councillor Maria Connor (Samia Longchambon). During the most recent episode, Max's wellbeing worried fans which has led to them thinking the youngster could being departing the cobbles in the near future. Max made an emotional plea on the phone for dad David (Jack P Shepherd), sister Lily and step-mum Shona to come and visit him at the Young Offenders centre following a brutal encounter with Alya, who visited him on Wednesday.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chile’s Quijote Films, run by Giancarlo Nasi, has reteamed with former partners El Viaje Films of Spain and Argentina’s Gema Films on two separate projects. Attending the Berlin Film Festival’s European Film Market, Nasi said: “This market has been very good for us because as one of the outfits selected in the company matching program of the Co-Production Market, we have met with a lot of new firms from different countries. At the same time, we’ve been able to advance and confirm our collaboration with past partners.” Quijote Films and El Viaje Films, partners on Theo Court’s “White on White,” which garnered the Venice Horizons Best Director and Fipresci awards and was Chile’s entry to the best international feature film Oscar race last year, are reteaming on Court’s latest film, “Tres noches negras” (“Three Dark Nights”).

Anna Marie de la Fuente In what marks a first for Chile’s Storyboard Media, Baremo Films of Mexico has boarded its psychological thriller “Quizas es cierto lo que dicen de nosotras” (“Maybe It’s True What They’re Saying About Us”), which has been shooting in Santiago since Feb. 1 and will wrap later this month.  Written and directed by Sofía Gomez (“Trastornos del sueño”) and Camilo Becerra (“Perro muerto”), the co-production also involves Chile’s La Jauria Cine as well as Argentina’s Murillo Cine and HDArgentina. “We’re delighted to have our first co-production with Mexico, which is such an important market, given its relevance in terms of promotion and visibility in our region,” said Storyboard Media’s Gabriela Sandoval and Carlos Núñez.

fourth quarter earnings call Friday. “I don’t see anybody who has the answer to this yet.

AMC Networks posted strong fourth-quarter results, with total revenue rising 20% over the prior-year quarter to $964.5 million, while earnings per share jumped almost fivefold to $2.52.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer AMC Networks reported its fourth-quarter 2022 earnings Friday, two days after naming Kristin Dolan, wife of the company’s owner, James Dolan, its new CEO. The company says it ended 2022 with 11.8 million paid streaming subscribers across all of its targeted streamers: AMC+, Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now, ALLBLK and HIDIVE. Those digital offerings are in addition to the company’s linear channels AMC, BBC America (a joint venture with BBC Studios), IFC, SundanceTV, WE tv and IFC Films. That’s a slight increase of 700,000 customers from the end of Q3, when AMC Networks reported it had reached 11.1 million subs. Meanwhile, U.S. ad sales fell 12% in the quarter.

Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights from Participant to “A Compassionate Spy,” the new documentary from Steve James (“Hoop Dreams,” “Life Itself”). The film, which world premiered at the Venice Film Festival ahead of its North American launch at Telluride, is a real-life spy story about Manhattan Project physicist Ted Hall, who provided nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union, told through the perspective of his wife Joan, who protected his secret for decades. Magnolia will release the film in theaters later this year. “A Compassionate Spy” is presented by Participant and is a Mitten Media and Kartemquin Films production produced by Mark Mitten p.g.a., Dave Lindorff, and Steve James. Executive producers are Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Tim Horsburgh and Gordon Quinn.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer AMC Networks has named Kristin Dolan CEO. Dolan, a longtime AMC Networks board member and wife of the company’s owner, James Dolan, will begin her new role Feb. 27. Her appointment to the position comes months after Christina Spade, formerly CFO of the company, stepped down in November after a very brief stint as chief, following the exit of interim CEO Matt Blank. Once Spade left, James Dolan was named interim executive chairman while a search began for another AMC Networks CEO, and announced that “large-scale layoffs” would be hitting the company amid a stall in growth at streaming AMC+ and its smaller platforms Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now, ALLBLK and HIDIVE.