“The Walking Dead” is coming home to AMC Networks. Where it heads next will be one of the biggest questions for a company managing a declining TV business and growing streaming revenue.
The original zombie series has been a consistent top performer on Netflix, generating nearly half a billion hours of viewership on Netflix over the last six months of 2025, and will be a valuable commodity once the streaming rights revert back to AMC Networks. When asked what the company plans to do with the returning rights, CEO Kristin Dolan noted that she can’t share much at the moment but “we are in conversations.”
“We’re just not ready to speak about it now, but we are in conversations, and we’re very optimistic about the value of the content and our opportunity to monetize it going forward,” Dolan said.
The comments came on an investor conference call following AMC Networks’ release of its fourth-quarter results, which highlighted the balancing act it must maintain.
Advertising revenues decreased 10% year over year due to continuing declines in the cable market as well as lower marketplace pricing, and revenue from affiliates decreased 13% year over year due a decline in cable subscribers. However, streaming revenues increased by 14%, primarily due to price increases in the company’s streaming services. That push and pull led to subscription revenue coming in at $315 million — an outcome consistent with what the segment saw a year ago.
Partly as a result of the declines in its traditional linear business, streaming now accounts for the single largest source of revenue in AMC Networks’ domestic operations segment, which Dolan called “a significant milestone and inflection point in the ongoing transformation of our business” in the company’s letter to shareholders.
More worrisome, however, is the fact that subscriber growth remained flat from the third quarter and a year ago at 10.4 million subscribers. That comes after more than 1.1 million Spectrum TV customers activated ad-supported AMC+ on Charter in a partnership that started in March.
Here are the key results:
Revenue: $595 million, down 1% year over year, compared to $581.8 million expected by analysts at Yahoo Finance for the quarter. Revenus was $2.3 billion, down 5% for the year.
Net Loss: $55.5 million, compared to $284.5 million loss a year ago for the quarter. Net income for the year came in at a positive $89.4 million, an improvement from the $226.5 million loss for 2024.
Earnings per Share: Overall diluted loss narrowed to $1.26 a share from $6.38 a share a year ago. Diluted EPS for the year came in at a positive $1.66 compared to the $5.10 loss seen a year ago.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at 64 cents a share, the same amount reported during the same quarter a year ago and compared to 66 cents per share expected by analysts at Yahoo Finance. EPS for the year came in at $2.03, down 47% compared to 2024.
Revenue: Total revenue fell slightly to $594.8 million from a year ago, but the figure was good enough to top analyst estimates of $581.8 million.
Subscribers: 10.4 million, the same number of streaming subscribers that were reported on December 31, 2024 and September 30, 2025.
The company also generated $272 million in free cash flow ahead of its previously increased forecast. “We expect that 2026 will represent another solid year on this front and anticipate free cash flow of at least$ 200 million for the full year,” Dolan said.
Dolan also touted the full acquisition of RLJ, which includes ownership of streaming services Acorn TV, ALLBLK, RLJE Films and a stake in Agatha Christie Ltd.