Redford says big is not better for the Sundance Channel

Indie film and documentary net the Sundance Channel has got distribution in several new territories. The deals were announced as Sundance founder and Hollywood star Robert Redford said today that its growth will be carefully managed. “I don’t think bigger is better,” he said at a luncheon at MIPCOM in Cannes. “We’re not after rapid expansion, to say we have got more and more and more [distribution]. I’ve seen the cost of that in my own country”.

The channel launched internationally last year, initially in France and Belgium. It has now secured carriage on SFR in France, Caiway in the Netherlands and KT in Korea. It is also carried on UPC Polska, Mio TV in Singapore and Skylife in Korea.

Redford added that the TV business is in a growth phase and that the increasing number of distribution platforms and number of creatives focused on the small screen were opportunities for the industry.

“In certain cases TV is growing beyond film, in some cases because filmmakers can’t get a film made and take their ideas to television.”

Redford said he was not convinced 3D would work on the small screen. “I don’t know about 3D,” he said. “I’m not convinced television is the place for 3D.”

Speaking about his work establishing the Sundance festival and TV brand, Redford said the amount of work involved had impacted on his acting career. “It did cost me something of my career as an actor,” he said. “Because I have been directing a film or making a documentary people thought ‘he doesn’t [act] anymore.”