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Cable Network SundanceTV Gets High-Profile President and GM

Apr 1, 2015  •  Post A Comment

SundanceTV, which became part of the AMC Networks in 2011, has a new president and general manager, and he’s one of the most respected, talented executives in the business.

Charlie Collier, who is already the president and GM of the AMC cable channel, will add SundanceTV to his portfolio.

charlie-collier-200x200Charlie Collier

“Running AMC and Sundance under common management makes good sense for both networks, which are heavily focused on high-end drama,” said Ed Carroll, Chief Operating Officer of AMC Networks, and the person to whom Collier will continue to report. Carroll continued, in a statement, “Charlie has done a great job in moving AMC to a leadership position in the TV landscape.  He inherits SundanceTV at a time when it has gained momentum from its original programs like ‘Rectify,’ ‘The Honorable Woman’ and ‘The Returned’ – which often pop up on critics’ top ten lists.”

Said Collier in a statement, “Sundance has a revered and well-defined multiplatform brand that can be traced all the way back to its iconic founder, Robert Redford.  Honoring this legacy, SundanceTV serves a loyal and discerning audience, captivating viewers with distinctive, critically acclaimed and award-winning programming. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with these two highly coordinated and talented teams in support of the remarkable creative talent for which each brand provides a home.”

Clearly what Sundance could use is better consumer branding and a wider audience. In those areas Collier is an ace. As AMC itself notes about him, “Collier joined AMC Networks in 2006, and has run AMC during a period of growth and network redefinition that has seen it move from a movie channel to a major force in original programming and a “must have” network for viewers, home of shows including ‘Mad Men,’ ‘Breaking Bad,’ ‘The Walking Dead’ and, most recently, ‘Better Call Saul.’

The announcement adds, “SundanceTV was previously run by Sarah Barnett, who was named president and general manager of BBC America late last year, when AMC Networks began operating BBC America through a joint venture with BBC Worldwide. Barnett has continued to oversee SundanceTV during the interim period.” Barnett continues to run BBC America.

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33 Comments

  1. >>> “Clearly what Sundance could use is better consumer branding and a wider audience.”
    How do they expect to do that? They censor and edit EVERYTHING (including 20 year old episodes of Law & Order, than ran on over-the-air broadcast networks! What is so offensive in 2015 that was OK back then?)
    Even their home grown The Writer’s Room and that Paley Center show are censored.

    They even drop commercial breaks in the middle of a sentence! Interrupting a character in mid-speech. This is how you show respect to the material, the vision of the filmmaker, and the audience? Then we can talk about the lengths of the breaks.

    Thanks to Netflix, and even torrents, there is no reason to waste a third of your life waiting to get damaged content. They should make these networks identify the original running time of the show and explain how many minutes have been removed.

  2. Clearly the channel has gotten away from the essense of accurate portrayal of it’s content. Think Redford is pleased that it is now as censored as any broadcast network. I have pretty much ceased to watch the channel. As a compromise why doesn’t the channel air it’s “adult” content at a later prime time hour. Any time after 9pm should protect the young ‘uns from accidently hearing bad words. The language now on the channel is more sanitized than a schoolyard recess. As a director, I would be enraged to have my work altered because someone considered it offensive and should not be made available in it’s intended form.

  3. Once I learned they began to censor even the mildest of language I was done with them. Another goddamn small government republican running the place I’m sure.

    • I think you have that backwards. We like small government and LESS regulation. It’s Democrat Marxists that need to control everyone and everything. I’m not a republican, I’m a constitutional conservative, but you’d probably say that’s the same thing. Anyway, I can’t believe anyone would watch this channel anymore with the edited content. It’s ridiculous. Oh… and what do you like? BIG government? Why do you regressives enjoy being slaves to The State? Try liberty. It’s much better.

  4. RexCraigo stop with the political BS.

    And I think Sundance has screwed itself so bad I’ll be surprised if it even last much longer. They have almost all of the content that AMC has run before in the past, yet all of it is now censored and edited. It’s pretty sad when watching breaking bad reruns and they don’t even let Jesse use his favorite phrase. And who wants to see the movie Goodfellas full of Joe Pesci and his crew saying “fudge” and for “goodness sake” etc?! And it’s actually part of a premium paid block on TV!! -.-

  5. Censoring EVERYTHING on Sundance is a drag. Even Damn and Hell…Really?
    Not sure what happened but would appreciate running original formats again.

  6. The movies are ruined. bye, bye

  7. I used to watch Sundance movies all the time. Sure, the commercials suck, but seeing uncensored movies on a free channel balanced things out. Then one day they started censoring their movies, and that was the day I quit watching Sundance. Who wants to watch a movie that’s been butchered?

    I miss the old days when we had The Sundance Channel. What a joke its become. Thanks for ruining it, AMC.

  8. It’s the height of irony that a channel bearing the name of a famous film festival, one known for celebrating artistic independence, now subjects artists to corporate censorship. Please remind me Sundance why anyone should watch your channel?

  9. How is this BULLSHIT censorship going to affect Red Road and Rectify? This is SO DISAPPOINTING! I was literally just watching A few good men, and it was SO CUT UP, I changed the channel….and I probably won’t be coming back. Thanks for the memories Sundance.

  10. I didn’t realize movies and tv shows were censored on Sundance until recently when I saw “edited for content” on the screen as a movie was about to start. At that point I switched to another channel to watch something else and haven’t been back since. Yes, really disappointing.

  11. I don’t watch it anymore. Its a shame… From “art” to commercialism … very sad for movie lovers who got to see the films from Sundance that we would never get to see anywhere. All gone.

  12. The moment they started censoring content (Donnie Brasco was absurd with clean-mouthed mobsters) they lost the fight to IFC.

    A la carte cable can’t come soon enough.

  13. This channel turned into AMC with very little independent programming.

  14. When we can’t even watch Breakfast Club without it being chopped and edited beyond its original intent something’s really wrong. Bummer. I like to think Robert Redford is cooler than this.

    Taking Sundance off my “Favorites” list.

  15. What has happened to this awesome channel? There is nothing to watch anymore! I was RIVETED to the original content shows such as Red Road, Rectify, The Honourable Woman, Top of the Lake…
    W H A T. H A P P E N E D???? (:-((((((((

    Donna in Phoenix Az Usa

  16. I echo everyone else here. First it was the Playboy channel disappearing in 1998, Than PBS diminishing since The Civil War & Baseball, than they chopped up TLC, Discovery & Lately the History channel has become morons of MTV 2. And now this, exactly WHEN is this content blitz of heard of the last ten years ? Tons of new media and content. Hey, what if we gave you 50 new, high tech ways to see shows and TV, but there wasn’t anything worth watching except other people arguing and people with bigger problems than yours. Content is far worse since Titanic ruined movie going forever. You know, only make movies for teenage girls, and have them go see it 50x each. Jennifer Lawrence has more Oscars than Pacino. Nuf said.

  17. I was glad to get Sundance with the movie upgrade on my Sling TV…then noticed the movies were edited. What a bummer…don’t recall them being edited in the past. Disappointed to say the least.

  18. I begin watching Dirty Harry and Magnum Force the other day, like most guys my age a huge Clint Eastwood fan, then noticed the dialogue was being edited. That kind of killed the movie completely, had to turn the channel. Won’t be tuning into to Sundance. Showing commercials is fine, but editing movies for content and language, get real. Take a lead from IFC.

  19. I hate this channel now. Is Collier in charge yet? Since he does such a bang up job on AMC. (Insert sarcasm here) you thought you’d give him a shot at doing the same on Sundance. Of you’re trying to kill it off with all the ads and censoring your doing a he’ll of a job.

  20. Redford would be appalled at what his channel has become… I censored the whole channel.

  21. The Canadian Sundance channel still offers independent programming and one of a kind movies. The American Sundance channel has almost the same programming as AMC, showing censored movies that have been played over and over for years. Law and Order is on almost every channel from USA to Bravo, you can’t get away from the show. It seems Sundance Channel has lost its edge and should be named AMC2.

  22. Sundance sucks edited to hell and way to many commercials abc has racier content they need to go back to what they used to be why even show R rated movies its a joke. They should just call it the advertisement channel.

  23. I was so excited to watch Drive – probably my favorite movie of the last 5 years – and now I’m so disappointed that it’s edited for television.

    You guys are the worst!

  24. The addition of commercials were unwelcome but didn’t keep me from watching. Editing content, even for something as simple as language, makes this channel unwatchable.

  25. Halloween night, and all that is on Sundance is Law and Order! Wow, this channel has really went to hell, it has definitely lost out to IFC!

  26. AMC bought out Sundance and IFC in an effort to elimate competition. AMC was sucking so bad, and made both Sundance and IFC suck ever worse to make AMC “look better”.

    They added huge amounts of adverts to make up for lost viewership, and the death spiral will continue as they cater to adverts and not viewers. Keep your damn zombie shit (aka – lack of imagination), and the cheap attempt of running bad 70’s TV shows. It shows that the CEOs of all three channels is out of touch with the viewership, and is laughing all the way to the bank from advertizing dollars.

    AMC Network is unviewable, unwatchable, and uninteresting.

  27. I was watching the movie Midway tonight, and because of the huge amount of commercials, I finally gave up and turned to another channel. I don’t mind a few, because I know the Company needs to make money, but when you go over the top and make watching ridiculous, you’ve lost me and a lot of other viewers. After tonight, I will not wastch anything on Sundance.

  28. Sundance HAD a very cool edge. Now it’s a thoughtless channel of who card re-runs. What happened to the original out of the box films, shoes? What the hell happened?! AMC what a joke. American movie classics people! That old film is the history of film today. Respect it, and honor it with pride. The new guy Charlie needs to be booted bye! A complete utter disappointment.

  29. I was so excited to be getting the Sundance Channel, but I was imagining a former version of the Sundance Channel. Every so often I forget it;s censored and turn on a great movie and then the censoring kicks in and I feel like an idiot for falling for it again. I agree with other comments — why can’t the censorship end after 11pm?

  30. I remember when Sundance played independent movies that you couldn’t find anywhere else. Now they play Law and Order and sometimes they’ll even play…… Law and Order. Sundance sucks. Somehow they make more money with this crappy new format. I guess that’s all that matters now.

  31. I read a number of these comments and agree completely. Sundance is horrible. There were also some series (I loved the one about the little boy diagnosed with Autism).
    is Sundance really making more money for the “owners?”.
    yuk

  32. I was watching Copland on Sundance this evening. Great film. I had to turn it off near the end. The quantity of commercials was so over the top it was absurd. My take away from this experience, is that I’ll never begin another movie or program on Sundance ever again. I’ll never watch the channel after this one experience. It is not what it was, not even close. It is a con taking advantage of what folks knew it to be.

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