Rainbow received $50 million[7] and agreed to terminate the licensing deal on December 31, 1985, before which time AMC would not be allowed to convert to a basic service.

[8][9] Turner completed the acquisition of MGM in early 1986, but his ownership was short-lived and he sold it back to the previous owner months later.

To solve this problem, Cablevision and CBS (which became half owner of Rainbow about a year earlier) worked out a deal with the nation's largest cable television provider, Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI).

[10] (TCI's Liberty Media division eventually would create another premium service—Encore, which also originally focused on older films, mainly from the 1960s to the 1980s – five years later in April 1991).

During its early years, it was not uncommon for AMC to host a marathon of Marx Brothers films, or show classics such as the original 1925 release of The Phantom of the Opera.

Coordinated with The Film Foundation, an industry group that was founded by acclaimed director Martin Scorsese, the festival was originally conceived as a multi-day marathon presenting rare and previously lost films, many airing for the first time on television, along with behind-the-scenes reports on the technical and monetary issues faced by those engaged in archival restoration.

"[13] In 1996, curator of the Museum of Modern Art Mary Lee Bandy called the Festival "the most important public event in support of film preservation.

"[14] By its tenth anniversary in 2003, the Festival had raised $2 million from the general public, which The Film Foundation divided among its five-member archives.

[15] In 1993, Cablevision's Rainbow Media division became the majority owner of the channel, when it bought out Liberty Media's 50% stake in AMC; incidentally in August of that year, Liberty announced its intent to purchase the 25% stake in the channel that Cablevision held at the time, with the Turner Broadcasting System helping to finance the buyout that included an option for TBS to eventually acquire AMC outright.

The show was well received by both critics and its enthusiastic fans, but was abruptly cancelled after its fourth season following management changes at the channel (WENN was followed up by The Lot, which lasted for only 17 episodes).

(originally intended as a preview of a new 24-hour cable channel),[20] which ran from 1998 to 2003 and featured movies from the 1950s and 1960s aimed at baby boomers (such as Beach Blanket Bingo and Ski Party).

The regular hosts of the telecasts were Bob Dorian and later, Nick Clooney (brother of singer Rosemary and father of actor and businessman George), as well as New York City radio personality Gene Klavan from WNEW (1130 AM, now WBBR).

In 2004, AMC aired its first reality series, FilmFakers; the show featured out-of-work actors who believed they were auditioning for a major role in a real movie, only to be told that they were the subject of a prank and no film actually existed.

[27] In late 2007, AMC debuted its first original drama series Mad Men, a period piece about Madison Avenue advertising executives in the 1960s.

[30] Breaking Bad, a drama about a cancer-stricken chemistry teacher involved in making and dealing methamphetamine (played by Bryan Cranston, who had been known primarily for comedic roles in series such as Malcolm in the Middle prior to the series), premiered in 2008; also garnering critical acclaim, winning 16 Primetime Emmy Awards.

While Rubicon was cancelled, The Walking Dead became an enormous success and has become the most watched scripted program in basic cable history.

[38][39] On March 31, 2013, during the third-season finale of The Walking Dead, AMC unveiled a rebranding campaign with the new slogan "Something More", and inverted the logo from a rectangular outlined box to a solid gold block with the network's acronymic name retained in the center.

On October 9, 2014, it was announced that AMC would scrap its entire current and future unscripted slate outside Talking Dead and Comic Book Men.

[42] This announcement came shortly after AMC took over the United States co-production of the sci-fi drama Humans from Xbox Entertainment Studios.

[50][51][52][53] Although movies remain an integral part of AMC's schedule, the network has garnered attention in recent years for its original series.

[28] AMC also airs acquired programming, ranging from black-and-white filmed shows (such as The Rifleman and shorts from The Three Stooges) to contemporary series (such as CSI: Miami).

Since the 2002 format change, the network's film telecasts usually are "television" cuts meant for basic cable, which feature content edits, censoring or dubbing of profanities, and some time edits by removing some superfluous plotting or toning down scenes with adult content inappropriate for basic cable broadcast to fit within a set timeslot with commercials added.

The schedule included notable acquisitions from Warner Bros., including Elf, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, The Polar Express, and 12 Rankin/Bass specials (the films had been recent mainstays of Freeform's competing 25 Days of Christmas schedule, with Elf in particular having received extensive airplay and high viewership during the event), as well as other specials from DreamWorks Animation.

This is necessary to view many "locked" programs on the AMC website (such as complete availability to The Walking Dead all eleven seasons) which prompts someone to subscribe for ~$5/mo or ~$30/yr.