Starz has officially broken away from Lionsgate, stepped out on its own, and delivered its first quarterly report as a standalone company. The numbers? Let’s just say they tell a story still in its first act.
Revenue dropped 6% to $330.6 million, and operating loss widened to $136.3 million. The big headline, though, is the $177.4 million restructuring charge—$168 million of which came from writing down content. That’s not a typo. That’s the cost of taking a long, hard look at your slate and deciding what actually deserves shelf space. Painful? Yes. Necessary? Also yes.
But this wasn’t just a cleanup job. CEO Jeffrey Hirsch is setting the stage for a different kind of Starz—one that owns more of its IP, trims its content budget, and focuses harder on the audiences it knows best: women and underrepresented viewers. By 2027, half of its originals are expected to be owned in-house. That’s not just about economics; it’s about long-term control. Ask any streamer without library rights how that’s working out.
Hirsch also sees an opportunity where others see dead weight: the linear holdouts. Networks still stranded on cable need digital lifelines, and Starz is positioning itself as the ferry to get them there. Bundling is part of that vision. The company’s already seeing lower churn and stronger retention from customers who come in through bundles—precisely the kind of efficiency this business needs.
Meanwhile, subscriber growth offers some validation. U.S. OTT subs rose by 530,000, with total domestic subscribers hitting 18 million. “Power Book III: Raising Kanan” continues to do the heavy lifting, showing the kind of performance that gives confidence in doubling down on owned IP.
There’s still a heavy debt load—$615.5 million—and Starz is navigating a challenging content landscape with reduced spending. But it’s also calling its shots: $200 million in Adjusted OIBDA projected for 2025 and a focused content strategy designed to scale within a clearly defined lane.
Starz knows what it is. And more importantly, it knows what it wants to be. That’s more than a lot of mid-tier streamers can say. The question now is whether the execution can match the clarity of the vision. The runway is short, but the playbook looks a lot tighter than it did just a year ago.
