It was the Dutch version of the American cable television network SundanceTV devoted to airing independent feature films, world cinema, documentaries, short films, television series, and original programs, such as news about the latest developments from each year's Sundance Film Festival.

Launched in the United States 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[2] On 7 May 2008, Rainbow Media (a subsidiary of Cablevision) announced that it had purchased Sundance Channel for $496 million.

The acquisition of Sundance Channel by Rainbow Media was completed in June 2008.

[4] On 31 January 2012, Film1 (a then-subsidiary of Liberty Global) announced that it would launch Sundance Channel in the Netherlands.