Sundance set for Lat Am

AMC/Sundance Channel Global, the international division of AMC, has agreed to launch Robert Redford’s Sundance Channel in Latin America this year.

Sundance Channel will debut on satcaster DirecTV in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela in September.

The 24/7 Spanish-language channel will air first-run original drama series alongside locally skewing independent films and documentaries.

DirecTV is also set to launch a separate Portuguese-language channel for its subscribers in Brazil at a later date.

Prior to the September launch, Sundance Channel’s first wholly owned drama series, Rectify, will premiere on DirecTV’s Latin American entertainment network OnDirecTV in July.

Sundance Channel is also available across Europe and in Asia.

The news follows the commissioning by Sundance Channel in the US last week of Jamie’s Dream School (6×60′), a reality series to be exec produced by UK chef Jamie Oliver alongside rap star 50 Cent.

The series is based on a format created by Oliver’s Fresh One Productions that aired on Channel 4 in the UK, in which saw cultural icons become teachers at a school filled with drop-outs. The US version, a copro with G Unit Films and Television, will premiere this fall.