Licence for the new Sundance Channel still runs the gamut of ‘the entire drive in genre’

Corus Entertainment Inc.’s new Sundance Channel will air on the company’s existing CRTC licence for the Drive In Classics channel, whose schedule covers “the entire drive-in genre,” including horror, thriller, beach party, and car chase movies as well as “social issues B movies” about “juvenile delinquency, unwed mothers, biker gangs, etc.” Starting March 1, Corus will air its new Sundance Channel on an existing Category 2 licence for The Drive In Classics channel, which Corus acquired from CTVglobemedia last year as part of a $40 million bundle of channels, including SexTV. According to the Drive-In Classics’ CRTC licence, the nature of the Sundance Channel is to provide “Drive-In B movies and series, as well as occasional magazine-style shows focusing on the genre. The schedule will cover the entire drive-in genre including selections from horror and thriller movies, beach party movies, car chase movies and social issues B-movies (juvenile delinquency, unwed mothers, biker gangs, etc.).” It’s not expected that the Sundance Channel (Canada) will shift toward the drive-in genre, however. While the Sundance Channel will offer Canadian programming, it is expected to offer much of the same programming as its American cousin. Corus Entertainment says its new Sundance Channel will meet a 35 per cent Canadian content quota by adding Canadian movies, documentaries, and original programming to the traditional lineup of the American Sundance Channel. “he Sundance Channel will meet the service's conditions of license obligations, including the 35 per cent Canadian content commitment, mixing classic and contemporary films and programming with a strong lineup of Canadian movies, documentaries and original programming,” Owen McCorquodale, a Corus spokesman, told The Wire Report by email. The American Sundance Channel launched in 1996 as a spinoff from the famous Sundance Film Festival. The channel airs movies and popular programs like Isabella Rossellini’s award-winning Green Porno, which explores creative the mating habits of animals. To meet Canadian content regulations the Canadian Sundance Channel will play Canadian programs like Slings & Arrows and The Lazy Environmentalist. MTV Canada has similar beginnings to that of the Sundance Channel. It launched in Canada in 2006 under a broadcast licence for TalkTV. MTV Canada cannot air music videos, for example, because they are not allowed under the TalkTV licence. In 2001, the CRTC denied an application to launch the Sundance Channel in Canada—without Canadian programming—on the grounds that it would “be competitive, either in whole or in part, with one or more Canadian specialty and/or pay television programming undertakings.” In the United States, the Sundance Channel, under the creative direction of actor Robert Redford, has more than 30 million subscribers. “The Drive-In Classics licence, which was issued back in 2001, is your standard Category 2 licence,” said Peter Grant, counsel with the McCarthy Tétrault law firm in Toronto and an expert on the communications industry. Category 2 licences cover Canadian specialty channels. They “offer niche programming to particular audiences, services that provide multiple viewing opportunities for particular types of programming, and services that repackage existing programming in creative ways,” the CRTC website says. Under the agreement with the Sundance Channel’s owner, Rainbow Media Holdings, Corus must maintain a 35 per cent quota for Canadian content on the channel. The financial details of the deal between Rainbow Media and Corus have not been released.

Licence for the new Sundance Channel still runs the gamut of ‘the entire drive in genre’

Broadcast | February 3, 2010

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us