As Drive-In Classics In June 2001,
CHUM Limited was given approval from the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (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 genre, focusing on films popular at the
drive-in theatres in the 1950s to 1970s, and a number of television series including
The Hilarious House of Frightenstein 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, which was ended on August 30, 2009. In July 2006,
Bell Globemedia announced that it would purchase CHUM for an estimated $1.7 billion
CAD, 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
Citytv stations were sold to
Rogers Media. On July 14, 2009, CTVglobemedia announced the sale of Drive-In Classics and
SexTV: The Channel to
Corus Entertainment for $40 million
CAD. 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) on March 1, 2010 under an agreement with the American channel's owner,
AMC Networks (formerly known as
Rainbow Media Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of
Cablevision), 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 revoked the channel's broadcast license on March 27, 2018. ==Programming==