Corus Entertainment and Rainbow Media today announced that they have finalized an that will enable Corus to add Sundance Channel to its portfolio of Canadian specialty services next March. (http://www.digitalhome.ca/2009/12/sundance-channel-coming-to-canada-next-march/)

Edit: This will be Drive-In Classics Rebranded

Will this what Drive-In Classics or SexTV be rebranded as?

Sex TV is supposed to rebranded as W Movies. Don't know about Drive-In.

What unlaunched specialty licenses does Corus hold?

Corus confirms this will be a rebranding of Drive-In Classics in its annual report, page 10: http://stream1.corusent.com/tv/Corus_AR09.pdf

It's about time we get this channel in Canada!

user - This is a list of Corus' unlaunched licenced channels - Pan Desi Life TV, Italian Entertainment TV, Music Television Espanol, RCS Television, Soccer Television, Spanish Entertainment TV2, Spanish Sports TV1, Spanish Sports TV2, YTV POW!, The Anime Channel (YTV).

Most of them are related to Telelatino, but there is also two YTV channels, one (YTV POW!) which could easily be the rebranded Discovery Kids, whatever Hasbro decides to call it.

Please, everyone take a step back and look at what this is. Much like its pretty useless IFC - Independent Film Channel Canada sister station, from what I take away from the press release, this is JUST a Sundance Canada.

If you look at how crippled Alliance Atlantis' IFC Canada was and how it only got worse when Canwest got it (spreading any movie they own the rights to across as many movie channels as possible; Movietime, Showcase Action/Diva, IFC), you'll see Sundance Canada will probably continue to set the bar low. On IFC Canada today: "Whatever Happened To...?" and "Big Screen Top 10"... whoopee!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Film_Channel_(Canada)

http://www.ifctv.ca/

It's not like we're watching the direct American feed of AMC or TCM (albeit with alternative programming sometimes substituted when Canadian rights are not available).

Even if it WERE the US originals of IFC and/or Sundance, they've became sooo over-exposed and mainstream more than a decade ago! 'The Simpson's aptly mocked it.

The difference is Corus doesn't own IFC, Canwest does, and everything Canwest owns, they have pretty much turned to crap. They should just rename their channels to the CSI Network and Law & Order Channel! Corus at least does a better job with programming and promoting their networks, at least in my opinion.

IFC used to be better before Canwest bought them out, don't you agree?

The only problem is that in their press release they seem to be mentioning old B movies as part of their schedule. This is probably to satisfy the Drive-In Classics lisence.

Yup. this looks like IFC 2. Not sure how necessary it is.
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But the Drive In Channel, a channel I once enjoyed when it first started out, has been annoyingly useless for the past two years. Endless repeats of the same five or six movies and Incredible Hulk and Xena over and over again.

Truth be told, all these so-called digital channels are just money-making fodder for the networks that own them. No original shows go into them. The rule seems to be:
Buy 5 movies
Buy serial rights to an old TV show.
Show over and over and over and over again.

Yeah, the strategy of CTV and Canwest seems to be: Buy out another broadcaster, then neglect most of their channels. Is it any wonder they're billions of dollars in debt?

Does anyone know if Shaw will be picking up the Sundance Channel and W Movies this March?

Well, I would think Shaw would be picking these up now that people might actually subscribe to them.

Well if there rebranding Sex TV & Driv'n Classics and they are on Shaw Cable(not sure don't have Shaw Cable) now I guess they would have them already?

Shaw does not offer either channel as of yet but I can almost guarantee they will add them once they are rebranded since Corus owns them now and Corus is owned by Shaw essentially, so that should pretty much make them a lock, don't you think?

The only thing here is since there a CAT 2 under the "digitaal rules" the have to add 10 more channel not owned by them or have enough Cat 2 channels not owned by them to meet that rule The 5 to 1 rule.(not sure if this rule is still in place? :confused: not sure if it is or not?)

As I don't have Shaw Cable and not sure eexactly what they carry as CAT 2 channels do they have enough to meet the rules?

I'm not sure how it works. And its not like Shaw directly owns/operates those channels and many of the Corus owned channels are only partially owned by Corus/Shaw Family, does that factor in somehow?

I'm not exact sure myself,but(someone correct me if I'm wrong here :confused: ) but I believe if the owner of a CAT 2 channel is also a provider ie Shaw Cable, Rogers, BTV, SD, etc they have to add 5 channels CAT 2 not owned by them. Now if this also applies to part owners if the same rule applies this I don't know? :confused:

Shaw has been slowly adding more channels to its lineup, like Abu Dhabi, SBTN, RTVi, and in some areas more French channels, not sure if those count or not though?

According to my expressvu guide drive in classics will become W movies and Sextv will be come Sundance on March 1.

Is Sundance going to be just another watered down version of the US channel? Mind you, Corus does a better job at channel cloning than any of the other providers.