Sundance Channel was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

Category B

specialty channel A specialty channel (also known in the United States as a cable channel or cable network) can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targeted ...

owned by

Corus Entertainment Corus Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian mass media company. Formed in 1999 as a spin-off from Shaw Communications, it has prominent holdings in the radio, publishing, and television industries. It is headquartered at Corus Quay in Toronto, Ont ...

that aired various films. The channel was founded in 2001 as Drive-In Classics by

CHUM Limited CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1945 as York Broadcasters Limited when it launched CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in 1954. CHU ...

, the owner of

Citytv Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television ...

, that aired Drive-In B films and other programming related to it. Drive-In Classics was acquired by

CTVglobemedia Bell Media Inc. (French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...

in 2007 and was resold to

in 2009. In March 2010, Drive-In Classics became Sundance Channel which aired programming focused on independent films, documentaries, music series, dramas and more. The channel closed its doors on March 27, 2018.

History

As Drive-In Classics

In June 2001,

was given approval from the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcast ...

(CRTC) to launch a national category 2 specialty channel known as "The Drive-In Channel", with programming described as being centred on "Drive-In B movies and series, as well as occasional magazine-style shows focusing on the genre". The channel was launched only three months later, on September 7, 2001 at 9:00 p.m. EST under the name "Drive-In Classics", which focused on showing primarily films from the

B movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

genre, focusing on films popular at the

drive-in theatre A drive-in theater or drive-in cinema is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movi ...

s in the 1950s to 1970s, and a number of television series including ''

The Hilarious House of Frightenstein ''The Hilarious House of Frightenstein'' is a Canadian children's television series, which was produced by Hamilton, Ontario's independent station CHCH-TV in 1971."Fit and 40: CHCH Channel 11 was built on one man's dream, big-name movies and Tiny ...

'' and '' Xena: Warrior Princess''. Programming on Drive-In Classics were organized into themes including: Martial Arts Mondays - fight-themed movies, Western Wednesdays - Western movies, Steamy Windshields (Fridays) - teenage-themed movies, Horror Marathon (Saturdays) - horror films and Salem's Lot, various films picked by host

Rob Salem Rob or ROB may refer to: Places * Rob, Velike Lašče, a settlement in Slovenia * Roberts International Airport (IATA code ROB), in Monrovia, Liberia People * Rob (given name), a given name or nickname, e.g., for Robert(o), Robin/Robyn * Rob ( ...

, which was ended on August 30, 2009. In July 2006,

Bell Globemedia Bell Media Inc. (French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...

announced that it would purchase CHUM for an estimated $1.7 billion

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

, included in the sale was Drive-In Classics. The sale was approved by the CRTC in June 2007, with the transaction completed on June 22, 2007 while the

stations were sold to

Rogers Media Rogers Media Inc., operating as Rogers Sports & Media, is a Canadian subsidiary of Rogers Communications that owns the company's mass media and sports properties, such as the Citytv and Omni Television terrestrial television stations, Sports ...

. On July 14, 2009, CTVglobemedia announced the sale of Drive-In Classics and SexTV: The Channel to

for $40 million

. Before the sale was approved, Corus announced in late September that they planned to rebrand the channel, but did not give any specific details regarding the rebranding. The sale was approved by the CRTC on November 19.

As Sundance Channel

On December 8, 2009, Corus announced that Drive-In Classics would be rebranded as a Canadian version of Sundance Channel (now known as

SundanceTV Sundance TV (formerly known as Sundance Channel) is an American pay television channel owned by AMC Networks that launched on February 1, 1996. The channel is named after Robert Redford's character in ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' and, w ...

) on March 1, 2010 under an agreement with the American channel's owner,

AMC Networks AMC Networks Inc. is an American entertainment company headquartered in 11 Penn Plaza, New York. AMC Networks owns and operates the eponymous cable channel and its siblings, IFC, We TV, and Sundance TV; the art house movie theater IFC ...

(formerly known as ''Rainbow Media Holdings, LLC'', a subsidiary of

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its e ...

), which would not own any stake in the Canadian channel. The channel was rebranded on March 1, 2010 as planned, focusing its programming on independent films, documentaries, scripted drams and comedies, and musical performances. In February 2018, a notice was posted on Sundance Channel's website that the channel was closed on March 1, 2018. Shortly after this, the channel space that was created by Drive-In Classics in 2001 simply ceased to exist. The

CRTC The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...

revoked the channel's broadcast license on March 27, 2018.

Programming

Includes former programming as of December 2014. Acquired from SundanceTV *''

Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys ''Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys'' is an American reality television series that premiered on December 7, 2010, on the Sundance Channel. The series chronicles the lives of four gay men and their female best friends. Season 2, which saw the sho ...

'' *'' Iconoclasts'' *''Love Lust'' *'' The Red Road'' *''

Push Girls ''Push Girls'' is an American reality television series on the SundanceTV. A sneak peek episode, and original premiere date, aired on April 17, 2012, with the official debut on June 4, 2012. ''Push Girls'' chronicles the lives of four women— An ...

'' Other Acquired Programming *'' The Hour'' *''Innovators in Music'' *'' Land Girls'' *'' London Live'' *''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became ...

'' *''

Rake Rake may refer to: * Rake (stock character), a man habituated to immoral conduct * Rake (theatre), the artificial slope of a theatre stage Science and technology * Rake receiver, a radio receiver * Rake (geology), the angle between a feature on a ...

'' *'' Shameless'' *''Video Killed the Radio Star''

Sundance Channel HD

Telus has announced on their website that they will carry the HD feed of Sundance Channel (Canada).

Shaw Direct Shaw Direct is a direct broadcast satellite television distributor in Canada and a subsidiary of the telecommunications company Shaw Communications. As of 2010, Shaw Direct had over 900,000 subscribers. It broadcasts on Ku band from two commu ...

and

Bell Satellite TV Bell Satellite TV (french: Bell Télé; formerly known as Bell ExpressVu, Dish Network Canada and ExpressVu Dish Network and not to be confused with Bell's IPTV Fibe TV service) is the division of BCE Inc. that provides satellite television ser ...

never launched it in time due to the channel's closure.

References

External links

* {{Canadian movie channels Movie channels in Canada Former Corus Entertainment networks Television channels and stations established in 2001 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2018 Digital cable television networks in Canada Defunct Canadian television channels English-language television stations in Canada 2001 establishments in Canada 2018 disestablishments in Canada