Dive Brief:
- AMC Networks CFO Patrick O’Connell will depart the streaming and entertainment company in March for a “non-media opportunity,” the company announced Thursday in a press release and securities filing.
- O’Connell will remain with the New York-based company through its fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings call and AMC has initiated a search for his successor, according to the press release. AMC has not yet announced a date for its Q4 earnings release.
- O’Connell has been a “trusted colleague and steady leader who’s played an important role supporting our strategic priorities and positioning our company for continued success,” AMC Networks CEO Kristin Dolan said in a statement included in the release. “His decision to pursue this new opportunity outside the media industry comes with our full support, and we wish him every success in this next chapter.”
Dive Insight:
O’Connell has served as finance chief for the entertainment network since 2022, joining from retail brand Essor where he also served as CFO, according to his LinkedIn profile. His past roles include serving a two-year span as EVP, head of corporate development for CBS Corporation and a 13-year career as a managing director at Goldman Sachs.
His departure comes as the entertainment network works to continue to expand its streaming services and offerings as part of an ongoing pivot from cable to streaming. Also Thursday, AMC announced the relaunch of “Sundance Now,” with the rebrand focusing on independent film, rather than scripted series, according to a report by IndieWire.
The relaunched platform — announced on the same day as the Sundance Film Festival began in Park City, Utah — will include features such as monthly film premieres of new and recently released films, and is priced at $7.99 per month, according to AMC Networks’ Thursday press release.
“As audiences have more options, and become more demanding, we wanted to recreate the film festival experience by showcasing a program hand-selected across all genres, by some of the best curators in the business,” Scott Shooman, head of AMC Networks’ IFC Entertainment Group, said in a statement included in the release.
CEO Dolan credited AMC’s third quarter of 2025 as marking a “key milestone in our transition from a cable networks business to a global streaming and technology focused content company,” according to a statement included in its Nov. 7 earnings release.
For the quarter ended Sept. 30, streaming subscribers rose by 2.8% year-over-year to reach 10.4 million. AMC also reported a 14% jump YoY in streaming revenues to $174 million, attributed primarily to “impact of price increases across our services,” according to its Q3 earnings report.
