AMC Networks reported disappointing results during the company’s third quarter of 2024, as revenues and profits fell. Net income fell 35%, to $41.4 million, from $63.4 million in 2023. Although the network saw gains in streaming and content licensing, the company said that a “challenging” advertising market and declining affiliate revenues led to these results.

AMC’s operating profit and adjusted operating profit – values ​​the company uses to measure its success – both declined year over year. But the company has seen an increase in content licensing revenue, helped in large part by a licensing deal with Netflix.

The company also announced it had reached an agreement to fully acquire BBC America last Friday. Previously, AMC Networks owned 49.9% of the channel. It purchased the remaining 50.1% for $42 million in cash.

Despite the results, shares of AMC Networks rose more than 4% on Friday.

Here are the main results:

Income: $599.6 million, down 5.9% year over year but higher than the $597.9 million expected by analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

Net income attributable to shareholders: $41.38 million, down 35% from $63.42 million. Operating profit fell 22% to $93.7 million, with adjusted operating profit falling 25% to $131.5 million.

Earnings per share: 76 cents per share, down from $1.44 in the third quarter of 2023. Adjusted for certain items, EPS came to 91 cents, compared to $0.88 per share expected by Zacks.

Subscribers: 5% year-over-year increase to 11.8 million.

“As we navigate this business in a complex and changing environment, we remain focused on our key strategic pillars: programming, partnerships and profitability,” Kristin Dolan, CEO of AMC Networks, said in a statement.

Compared to the third quarter of 2023, affiliate revenue decreased by 13%, falling to $164 million. The company attributed this to a decline in core subscribers, which continues to be a trend in the declining cable landscape.

Although AMC made streaming revenue gains that helped offset those results, lower affiliate sales ultimately caused subscription revenue to decline 5% to $316 million. Advertising revenue fell 10% to $133 million. This was driven by a linear decline in audiences as well as a challenging advertising market, but was partly offset by growth in digital and advanced advertising revenue.

There were some positives. Content licensing revenue increased 31% year-over-year to $81 million. This had to do with AMC-branded shows being available to stream on Netflix through a licensing deal. Additionally, streaming revenue increased 7% to $152 million during the period due to subscriber growth and year-over-year price increases. And AMC+ grew its subscriber base by 5% to 11.8 million total.

Streaming increases correlated with AMC’s deal with Netflix. In August, the channel released 15 seasons of its originals on the streaming giant. Dolan said the company was “very pleased” with the results of this partnership during the third-quarter earnings call.

Acquisition activity around season 2 of “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon,” which is only available on AMC+, more than doubled from the period before Netflix was licensed by AMC. Likewise, AMC+ acquisitions generated by season 2 of “Interview with the Vampire” were multiplied by almost four compared to the reference.

Dolan said AMC has generated $293 million in free cash flow to date and is on track to generate $500 million in cumulative free cash flow over two years. The company also entered into new and strengthened partnerships with Charter, Netflix Amazon and other major companies.