TV

AMC profit misses as it spends to replace ‘Breaking Bad’

Cable TV network AMC Networks Inc’s third-quarter results missed Wall Street estimates as it spends more on programming to replace marquee shows such as “Breaking Bad”.

AMC shares fell as much as 7.6 percent in early trading on Thursday.

The “Breaking Bad” finale in September drew 10.3 million viewers, a record for the series about a chemistry teacher who starts dealing in drugs to support his family.

AMC’s other big hit, “The Walking Dead”, attracted more than 16 million viewers in its fourth season debut in October. The show not only posted the highest numbers on cable TV, but also beat out almost all broadcast network programs as well.

But with another flagship show, “Mad Men,” coming to an end soon, AMC has ramped new programming such as Detroit-set crime drama “Low Winter Sun,” which debuted in August. That show, however, has had middling ratings so far.

Two other new shows – “Turn”, set during the American War of Independence, and “Halt & Catch Fire”, about the personal computer boom of the 1980s – are expected to debut in 2014.

While advertising revenue jumped 36 percent to $146 million in the third quarter, helped by the “Breaking Bad” finale, operating costs rose 11 percent to $272.9 million in the third quarter.

The company’s net income rose to $58 million, or 80 cents per share, from $37 million, or 51 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose about 19 percent to $395 million.

Analysts had expected earnings of 86 cents per share on revenue of $396.3 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.