• AMC Networks CEO Christina Spade stepped down after only three months in her new role.

• She is entitled to a severance payout of at least $10.5 million.

• The announcement of her departure came hours before AMC announced plans to cut 20% of its US staff.

AMC Networks CEO Christina Spade is entitled to receive a payout of at least $10.5 million, in addition to various awards and restricted stock units, after stepping down from her role just three months after she was appointed to lead the company, according to SEC filings.

A November 28 filing details that Spade would receive the severance benefits laid out in her employment agreement.

According to that employment agreement, Spade is entitled to "a cash severance payment in an amount equal to not less than two times the sum of Ms. Spade's annual base salary and annual target bonus as in effect at the time of termination of employment."

Spade, who joined AMC Networks as CFO last year and became CEO in September, had a minimum annual base salary of $1.75 million, as well as a bonus of double that salary, according to the agreement.

Spade's departure came just before AMC Networks sent a memo to staff on Tuesday announcing its plans to lay off 20% of its US staff — or about 200 people — as it struggles to generate enough revenue from its streaming services to offset the decline of cable television, the Wall Street Journal reported.

"It is for that reason that myself and the Board of Directors of AMC Networks have concluded that we as a company need to conserve our resources at this time," the company's chairman James Dolan wrote in the memo obtained by CNBC.

AMC will face "significant cutbacks in operations" and "cuts to every operating area" of the network, Dolan wrote in the memo.

"We of course realize that this will cause significant concern and anxiety for our employees and those who rely on AMC Networks for their livelihood," the memo said. "We do not take this lightly."

The layoffs come at a time when even legacy entertainment giants like Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are struggling amid competition from newer players and industry-wide advertising headwinds.