Acorn TV and Urban Movie Channel Continue Strong U.S. Subscriber Growth

Streaming services Acorn TV and Urban Movie Channel continue to grow at a faster pace than Netflix, whose growth has slowed considerably as it approaches saturation in the United States.

RLJ Entertainment, which operates the niche streaming services and is backed by AMC Networks, announced 12.7 percent growth in its streaming unit during the third quarter, from 550,000 to 620,000 combined subscribers. Netflix, by comparison, has 52 million U.S. subscribers and grew at a rate of only 2.1 percent of U.S. subscribers during the same quarter.

“Exceeding 620,000 subscribers is a major accomplishment in our path to achieve our 1 million subscribers milestone within the next 12 to 18 months,” RLJ CEO Entertainment Miguel Penella said in this morning’s quarterly earnings announcement. “Our selective, compelling and engaging programming, including new and returning exclusive franchises, continues to draw high-touch consumer engagement.”

Acorn TV, which controls the Agatha Christie catalog and rights to future productions, imports and co-produces British dramas and comedies. Urban Movie Channel, which was the smaller of the two services when RLJ Entertainment decided earlier this year to start reporting combined subscriber data, focuses on African-American film and TV titles.

AMC Networks, which operates the AMC, SundanceTV, WE tv and BBC America cable channels and the Shudder and Sundance Now streaming services, is also an investor in the BritBox streaming service that — like Acorn TV — specializes in bringing British TV to an American audience.

Scott Porch writes about the streaming-media industry for Decider and is also a contributing writer for Playboy. You can follow him on Twitter @ScottPorch.