Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: Who owns the AMC network?
AMC Networks Inc. is an American entertainment company headquartered in 11 Penn Plaza, New York, that owns and operates the cable channels AMC (its eponymous brand), IFC, WE tv, BBC America (through a joint venture with BBC Studios), and SundanceTV; the art house movie theater IFC Center in New York City; the independent film company IFC Films; and premium streaming services Sundance Now and Shudder. In addition, the company operates AMC Networks International, its global division.
In 1954, the smaller American Motors Corporation (AMC) was formed when Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation in a deal worth almost USD $200 million ($1.735 billion in 2013 dollars) the largest corporate merger in U.S. history at that time. Other mergers with smaller independent manufacturers followed. Although AMC was moderately successful it was never sufficiently large to challenge any of the Big Three, and was eventually bought by Chrysler in 1987.
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial terrestrial television network that is a flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, with additional major offices near Los Angeles (at 10 Universal City Plaza), Chicago (at the NBC Tower) and Philadelphia (at the Comcast Technology Center). The network is one of the Big Three television networks. NBC is sometimes referred to as the "Peacock Network", in reference to its stylized peacock logo, introduced in 1956 to promote the company's innovations in early color broadcasting. It became the network's official emblem in 1979.
Despite Hudson's racing success, the marketplace competition and fierce rivalry between Chevrolet and Ford was too much to save the small scale independent automaker. Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation in 1954 to become American Motors Corporation. The Hudson name was finally retired in 1957, as AMC transformed into Rambler. The Hornet name was used by AMC for their compact sedan from 1970 to 1977. When automakers began returning to racing venues as a form of advertising and industrial prowess, AMC was competitive in the drag racing scene with their AMX taking the SS/D class record for ten years, and successfully fielded the AMC Javelin in the Trans-Am Series winning the manufacturer trophies in 1970 and 1971. The AMC Matador was developed into a winner on the NASCAR circuits.
On November 16, 2013, it was announced that AMC was developing a TV series based on the DC Vertigo comic book series "Preacher". On November 18, 2013, it was revealed that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg were developing the series pilot with Sam Catlin, and that it would be distributed by Sony Pictures Television. On February 6, 2014, AMC ordered a pilot script to be written by Rogen and Goldberg, and confirmed Catlin would serve as showrunner. On December 3, 2014, AMC ordered the pilot of "Preacher", directed by Rogen and Goldberg and written by Catlin, to be filmed.
Although ABC originated the show, the network handed it off to the USA Network. USA is now owned by NBC (NBC Universal). "Monk" was the first ABC Studios-produced show aired on USA Network instead of ABC. Although ABC initially refused Monk, they did air repeats of the show on ABC in the summer and fall of 2002, and then again in the spring of 2004. On January 12, 2006, USA Network announced that "Monk" had been picked up through at least season six as one of the "highest-rated series in cable history." An in-joke reference to this contract renewal was also inserted into the episode "Mr. Monk and the Big Reward", which aired around this time.
CBS became the most watched American broadcast television network once again in the 2005–06 season, an achievement that the network proclaimed in on-air promotions as being "America's Most Watched Network" (a term it would use again in the 2011–12 season). This lasted until the 2007–08 season, when Fox overtook CBS for first, becoming the first non-Big Three network to earn the title as the most watched network overall in the United States; despite CBS's continued strong lineup, Fox's first-place finish that season was primarily due to its reliance on "American Idol" (the longest reigning #1 prime time U.S. television program from 2004 to 2011) and the effects of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. CBS retook its place as the top-rated network in the 2008–09 season, where it has remained every season since. Fox and CBS, both having ranked as the highest rated of the major broadcast networks during the 2000s, tend to nearly equal one another in the 18–34, 18–49 and 25–54 demographics, with either network alternating in placing first in either of these groups by very close margins. "NCIS", which has been the flagship of CBS's Tuesday lineup for much of its run, became the network's highest-rated drama by the 2007–08 season.
The company's majority owner is its chairman and CEO, Vince McMahon, who retains a 42% ownership of the company's outstanding stock and 83% of the voting power.
Barit served on the Board of AMC until 1956 when he resigned in protest over the likelihood that Hudson would be phased out of production. Barit felt that his trust in AMC had been betrayed. George W. Romney, AMC's President, felt that Hudson and Nash were no longer relevant players in the automotive market and retired both names at the end of the 1957 model year production.
On October 27, 2010, the channel's ownership changed again as Shaw Communications gained control of HGTV as a result of its acquisition of Canwest and Goldman Sachs' interest in CW Media. Shaw Media has since been subsumed by its sister company Corus Entertainment, who owns the channel to this day.
The origins of the WWE Network can trace back to 2000 when USA Network filed the lawsuit against the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as the WWE) due to breach of contract which saw most of its programming moved to Viacom-owned TNN and MTV. The Delaware Chancery Court ruled in favor of the WWF in June 2000. Then CEO, Linda McMahon, revealed that WWF wanted its own cable network and testified that before WWF signed a rights deal with Viacom, the company had floated the idea of acquiring USA's Sci-Fi Channel, and reformatting it as a dedicated wrestling network. USA executives rejected the idea, and McMahon said that former USA Networks President Barry Baker encouraged her to talk to other programmers about potential deals. "I can tell you right now, Linda, you're not going to get anybody to give you a network," McMahon testified. In 2005, USA Network re-acquired the rights to all WWE programming.
Animax's programming is dedicated to anime, and it has been acknowledged as the largest 24-hour anime-only network in the world. In its original network in Japan, it has exclusively premiered several anime, which have aired first on Animax, including "" and its sequel "", "", "Aishiteruze Baby", "Wangan Midnight" and the 2010 anime adaptation of Marvel's "Iron Man" by Madhouse Studios. In addition, its English language network, Animax Asia, aired the first ever anime simulcast with their simulcast of "Tears to Tiara" on the same time as the Japanese premiere and the new "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood" series, on the same week as the Japanese premiere. Its viewer reach has been quoted as spanning over 89 million homes. across 62 countries and 17 languages.
The Hornet was phased out after 1977 and transformed into a new "luxury compact" line of automobiles, the AMC Concord. It also served as the basis of an innovative "crossover" all-wheel drive vehicle, the AMC Eagle that was introduced in 1979.
On October 1, 2010, parent company News Corporation (which spun off FX and the company's other U.S.-based entertainment properties to 21st Century Fox in July 2013) pulled its channels from Dish Network due to a carriage dispute over retransmission consent revenue. FX returned to the satellite provider's channel lineup on October 29, 2010, after Dish Network and News Corporation signed a long-term carriage agreement. On November 1, 2010, following a similar dispute, FX and its sister channels were restored by New York City-based cable provider Cablevision through a separate carriage agreement.
Vincent Kennedy McMahon (; born August 24, 1945) is an American professional wrestling promoter and executive, American football executive, and businessman. Since taking over the company from his father in the 1980s, he has worked in the corporate area of the WWE and behind the scenes. He currently serves as the majority owner, chairman and CEO of WWE as well as founder of Alpha Entertainment, which is the holding company of the American football league the XFL.
The site was founded in 1996 as a 50-50 venture between NBCUniversal and Microsoft at the same time as the two companies formed a separate joint venture for the cable news network MSNBC. Although they shared the same name, msnbc.com and MSNBC maintained separate corporate structures and news operations, with msnbc.com headquartered on the West Coast on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington and MSNBC in the NBC headquarters in New York. Microsoft divested its stake in the MSNBC channel in 2005, and divested its stake in msnbc.com in July 2012.
Animax is the first television channel in Asia fully dedicated to broadcasting anime 24 hours a day. It was initially launched in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia in January 2004, and was launched in several other countries soon after. The company has reached over 66 million viewers spanning 15 markets throughout Asia. Since 2013, the network is unavailable in Vietnam due to government content restrictions.
Although NBC in New York was known to have station-to-station television links as early as 1940 with WPTZ (now KYW) in Philadelphia and WRGB Schenectady, New York, DuMont received its station licenses before NBC resumed its previously sporadic network broadcasts after the war. ABC had just come into existence as a radio network in 1943 and did not enter network television until 1948 when it signed on a flagship station in New York City, WJZ-TV (now WABC-TV). CBS also waited until 1948 to begin network operations, because it was waiting for the Federal Communications Commission to approve its color television system (which it eventually did not). Other companies, including Mutual, the Yankee Network, and Paramount, were interested in starting television networks, but were prevented from successfully doing so by restrictive FCC regulations; however, at least the Paramount Television Network actually did have some limited success in network operations in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
When the AFL and the NFL officially merged in 1970, the combined league divided its teams into the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). It was then decided (officially announced on January 26, 1970) that CBS would televise all NFC teams (including playoff games) while NBC would carry games from all AFC teams. For interconference games, CBS would broadcast them if the visiting team was from the NFC and NBC would carry them when the visitors were from the AFC. This was in line with the NFL television blackout rules of the time, meaning that every televised game of a local NFL team would be on the same channel (at the time, home games were banned from local television regardless of sell-out status, while road games are required to be aired in the teams' primary media markets, and select neighboring markets as well, even if it is not the most popular team in the market). The two networks also divided up broadcast rights to the Super Bowl on a yearly rotation.
Capital Cities/ABC merged with The Walt Disney Company on January 5, 1996, and assumed The Walt Disney Company name and headquarters in California on that same day. Michael Eisner also retained his position as Disney's CEO. Disney CFO Stephen Bollenbach, who had crafted the deal, left Disney in February 1996 to become Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hilton Hotels Corporation. A subsidiary operating the combined company's television operations, ABC, Inc., was established on September 19, 1996.Stations are listed alphabetically by state and city of license.
In addition to "TV Guide" and its flagship newspaper "The Philadelphia Inquirer", Triangle Publications also owned the "Philadelphia Daily News"; ten radio and six television stations (WFIL AM-FM-TV in Philadelphia, WNHC AM-FM-TV in New Haven, Connecticut, KFRE AM-FM-TV in Fresno, California, WNBF AM-FM-TV in Binghamton, New York, WFBG AM-FM-TV in Altoona, Pennsylvania and WLYH-TV in Lancaster–Lebanon, Pennsylvania); "The Daily Racing Form"; "The Morning Telegraph"; "Seventeen"; and various cable television interests. (It was under Triangle's ownership of WFIL-TV that "American Bandstand" came to popularity, which, in turn, led to host Dick Clark ascending to become a major television personality.) Triangle Publications sold its Philadelphia newspapers to Knight Newspapers in 1969, its radio and television stations during the early 1970s to Capital Cities Communications (the television stations that are now known as KFSN-TV and WPVI-TV were subsequently acquired by ABC through its 1986 merger with Capital Cities) and various other interests, retaining only "TV Guide", "Seventeen" and "The Daily Racing Form".
On October 21, 2012, AMC Networks announced a settlement was reached between them, Cablevision and Dish in which Dish was forced to pay up to $700 million in damages to Cablevision for damages from removing Voom owned channels off the Dish lineup back in 2008, and in return Dish signed a new agreement to bring the AMC Networks owned channels back on the Dish lineup with AMC returning October 21 and the rest on November 1.
AMC Networks International Southern Europe (formerly AMC Networks International Iberia, Chello Multicanal and Multicanal) is a Madrid, Spain-based television company, owned by AMC Networks International.
Rainbow Media also formerly owned the music channel Fuse; the channel became a part of MSG Media in 2010, as Madison Square Garden was also spun off as a public company. Rainbow Media also owned Wedding Central which was shut down the same day AMC Networks went public.
AMC Networks International UK (EMEA) (formerly AMC Networks International Zone (EMEA), Chello Zone, Zone Vision and Zone Media) is a London, UK-based television company, founded in 1991 by Chris Wronski and owned by AMC Networks International.