Redford Goes for the Green
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/20/2006 4:14:00 PM
Sundance is going even greener.
Independent film channel will launch a two-hour weekly prime time block of environmental programming under the Sundance Channel Green banner starting early next year, founder and environmental activist Robert Redford said Thursday.
The programming will consist of original programming and premieres of documentaries on ecology, "green" living and stewardship of natural resources.
From the government's official acceptance of the theory of global warming to the issue's creation of a film star in Al Gore to those BP "beyond oil" ads, green is in. But Sundance will be the first U.S. TV network to give over a block of prime, said Redford.
“Documentaries like Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth powerfully demonstrate the relevance of, and demand for, so-called green programming,” said Dan Hartman, VP Programming, DirecTV Inc., in a Sundance release announcing the block. "“This is the right time for this idea," echoed Time Warner Cable President Roger Keating.
The film became a cult hit after it debuted at the Sundance Film festival in January.
