AMC Networks veterans join Kino Lorber to oversee ‘accelerated streaming expansion’

Ed Carroll

Former AMC Networks veterans Ed Carroll and Lisa Schwartz have been hired by US-based Kino Lorber to work across its streaming and distribution activities.

Carroll, who left AMC in late 2021, and Schwartz, who exited in 2020, will work with Kino Lorber chairman & CEO Richard Lorber and COO Martha Benyam to shape content and distribution strategies, including an “accelerated expansion” into digital.

The appointments, which see Caroll become chief strategy officer and Schwartz named chief revenue officer, come two months since Kino Lorber acquired global media company MHz Networks, whose assets include international programming streamer MHz Choice.

Carroll had previously spent more than three decades with AMC Networks, latterly as COO, and oversaw a swathe of hits including Better Call Saul, The Walking Dead and Mad Men for flagship network AMC.

His remit also covered streamers Acorn TV, Allblk, Shudder and AMC+, as well as AMC Networks’ international channels in Europe and Lat Am.

Schwartz had been at AMC for two decades, most recently overseeing IFC Films, where she worked on films and documentaries including Boyhood, Two Days, One Night, and Finding Vivian Maier. She also oversaw the development and launch of the IFC Films Unlimited SVOD service, as well as IFC Films’ first AVOD streaming channel, IFC Films Pick.

Lorber said: “Following our acquisition of the MHz Choice streaming service, it’s the perfect time for them to join, as we further innovate our distribution strategies to make prestige international film and TV content accessible to audiences throughout North America. Like me, they care intensely about quality, and finding and sharing artistically elevated stories that connect across many genres.”

Caroll and Schwartz’s departures from AMC came amid a raft of changes at the company, which saw former CEO Josh Sapan exit. He was subsequently replaced on a full-time basis by Christina Spade, but she stepped down after three months last year amid a vast restructuring that has seen the company unveiling plans to cut around a fifth of its US workforce and shuttering shows.

Kino Lorber has a library of over 4,000 titles and operates OTT services including TVOD streamer Kino Now.