History
Launched in February 1996 to show independent films on television, Sundance Channel was a joint venture of Showtime Networks (part of CBS Corporation), Universal Studios (part of NBCUniversal), and Robert Redford who also acted as the creative director of the network. The channel initially launched on five cable systems in New York City; Los Angeles; Alexandria, Virginia; Chamblee, Georgia; and Pensacola, Florida
Redford partnered with Showtime Networks to launch the channel after negotiations between Redford and the Independent Film Channel for Redford to become a partner in the channel broke down in 1994. The channel got its name from Redford's character in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It is an extension of Redford's non-profit Sundance Institute. The channel operates independently of both the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival. Certain providers offered Sundance Channel as part of the Showtime premium movie package.
In addition to broadcasting films, the channel airs and produces original content. One such show, Anatomy of a Scene, takes a scene from a movie and breaks it apart from the perspective of the production design, costume design, the writing, the acting, and the directing.
On May 7, 2008, Rainbow Media (a subsidiary of Cablevision) announced that it had purchased Sundance Channel for $496 million. Rainbow Media also owns the cable channels AMC, IFC, WE tv, and News 12, and owned the defunct Voom HD Networks. The acquisition of Sundance Channel by Rainbow Media was completed in June 2008. On July 1, 2011, Rainbow Media was spun off by its parent company, Cablevision; with this spin-off, the company was renamed AMC Networks.
Read more about this topic: Sundance Channel (United States)
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