| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Traded as | NASDAQ: AMCX |
| Industry | Specialty television |
| Founded | 1980 (as Rainbow Media Holdings, LLC, a division of Cablevision) 2011 (as AMC Networks) |
| Headquarters | Bethpage, New York, U.S. |
| Key people | Josh Sapan (President) Charles Dolan (Chairman of the Board) |
| Website | http://www.amcnetworks.com |
AMC Networks (NASDAQ: AMCX) is an entertainment company in the United States that owns the national cable channels AMC, IFC, WE tv, and Sundance Channel; the art house movie theater IFC Center in New York, New York, and the film company IFC Films.
The company was originally launched in 1980 and formerly known as Rainbow Media Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of Cablevision, but was spun off as a publicly traded company in July 2011.
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In 2005, Cablevision considered spinning off its content subsidiary Rainbow Media as a publicly traded company, and making their core cable business private, but withdrew the plan. In 2006, a new plan emerged to privatize all of Cablevision, including Rainbow Media. In January 2007, with no word on if the privatization would go through, Liberty Media expressed interest in acquiring Rainbow Media from Cablevision.[1]
On March 10, 2011, Cablevision, as approved by its board on December 16, 2010,[2] announced that Rainbow Media would be spun off as a publicly traded company, AMC Networks, later in 2011, and, as said in 2005, making their core cable business private. Rainbow Media's former president Josh Sapan serves as the president and chief executive of AMC Networks[3] which went public on July 1, 2011.[4]
Rainbow was the original owner of the cable network Bravo, before selling their eventual 50% stake to one-time Rainbow partner NBC (now NBCUniversal), giving them full control of the channel. Rainbow also ran the local-minded MSG Metro Channels, before folding them in late 2005. The company had also founded current Orlando, Florida MyNetworkTV affiliate WRBW (channel 65) in 1994, which it eventually sold to Chris-Craft in 1998; it was affiliated with the since-defunct UPN, half of which Chris-Craft owned half at the time. Rainbow Media also formerly ran Fuse TV; the network was transferred to fellow Cablevision subsidiary Madison Square Garden (which would also be spun off from Cablevision in 2010). Rainbow Media also owned Wedding Central which was shut down the same day AMC Networks went public.[5]