Viceland

Viceland
Launched	29 February 2016 (2016-02-29)
Owned by	Vice Media, A&E Networks
Picture format	1080i (HDTV) (HD feed downgraded to letterboxed 480i for SDTVs)
Country	United States
Language	English
Headquarters	Brooklyn, New York
Replaced	H2
Website	www.viceland.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV	Channel 271 (HD/SD)
Dish Network	Channel 121 (HD/SD)
Cable
Available on many U.S. cable systems	Check local listings, channels may vary
IPTV
Verizon FiOS	Channel 127 (SD) Channel 697 (HD)
AT&T U-verse	Channel 257 (SD) Channel 1257(HD)
Google Fiber	Channel 2 (SD) Channel 238 (HD)

Viceland (stylized as VICELAND) is a multinational television channel brand owned and programmed by Vice Media. Viceland launched on February 29, 2016 with the simultaneous launch of two Viceland-branded cable channels; one in the United States which is a joint venture majority-owned by A&E Networks (who owns a 10% stake in Vice Media, alongside a separate 10% stake owned directly by A&E's co-owner Disney), and in Canada, where Viceland operates as a Category A-licensed specialty channel majority-owned by Rogers Media. Viceland respectively replaced the U.S. version of H2 and the Canadian version of Bio.

Operating under the creative direction of film director Spike Jonze, Viceland has a focus on lifestyle-oriented documentary and reality series aimed towards millennials, leveraging the resources of Vice's verticals with new original series, along with adaptations of and reruns of existing Vice web series. The network's launch programs featured programs hosted by existing Vice personalities such as Action Bronson and Thomas Morton, as well as notable figures such as Eddie Huang, Ellen Page, and Lance Bangs.

History

Precursors

Vice's first foray into television was VBS.tv, an online video joint venture with Viacom's MTV Networks division (specifically, MTV and Logo TV. As part of the venture, MTV Networks had international television distribution rights for the content produced for VBS.tv, resulting in the creation of television specials that compiled content from the service (in the U.S., these aired on MTV2).^[1] Vice later produced a series for MTV, The Vice Guide to Everything.^[2] In 2013, Vice premiered a self-titled newsmagazine series for HBO.^[3] The following year, HBO's parent company Time Warner expressed interest in acquiring a stake in Vice, and proposed the possibility of Vice taking over its struggling cable news channel HLN, and revamping it as a millennial-focused service drawing from its own content. However, the deal fell through due to concerns regarding editorial control.^[4][5][6]

On August 29, 2014, A&E Networks—a joint venture of Hearst Corporation and The Walt Disney Company—acquired a 10% minority stake in Vice Media for $250 million.^[7] On October 30, 2014, Vice announced a CDN$100 million joint venture with Canadian media conglomerate Rogers Communications, to build a studio in Toronto's Liberty Village neighbourhood for producing original content.^[8] Rogers also announced an intent to launch Vice-branded television and digital properties in Canada in 2015. Rogers CEO Guy Laurence described the proposed studio as "a powerhouse for Canadian digital content focused on 18- to 34-year-olds" which would be "exciting" and "provocative".^[9][10] In 2015, Rogers-owned television network City introduced Vice on City—an anthology series featuring short-form content produced by Vice's Canadian outlets and reporters.^[11] The Vice company had previously moved from Montreal to New York City due to difficulties in reaching a sufficient scale in Canada at the time. The company believed that Rogers' investment in Vice helped to better achieve these goals.^[12]

Launch

On November 3, 2015, A&E Networks officially announced that Vice would take over its channel H2 (a spin-off of History Channel) and re-launch it as a new service, Viceland, "as early as" February 2016.^[2][4][13] Vice Media CEO Shane Smith stated that the channel was the "next step in the evolution of our brand and the first step in our global rollout of networks around the world", signifying that Vice would now be "platform-agnostic" with the addition of television to Vice's traditionally digital media-oriented strategy, and be capable of producing high-quality media.^[4] In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Smith explained that, despite Vice traditionally being oriented towards digital content, "75 percent of the world's advertising budget" was being spent on television advertising, and that partnering with an established media company gave Vice access to A&E's infrastructure and the 70 million homes that already received H2, rather than having to build Viceland entirely from scratch and negotiate carriage with providers.^[14][14][15]

A&E Networks handles the U.S. distribution and operations of Viceland, and assists in advertising sales. Vice holds a 49% minority stake and control of international expansions.^[14] Smith stated that the network planned to "test new and innovative monetization strategies", including a goal for only 10 minutes of commercial advertising per-hour, and to leverage Vice's existing production capabilities and experience with native advertising to produce sponsored short-form content for advertisers to air in lieu of traditional commercials.^[4][14][16]

On November 5, 2015, Rogers announced it would partner with Vice Media to launch Viceland in Canada to replace The Biography Channel.^[8][12] The Canadian network is owned by Vice Network Canada Inc., which is 70% owned by Rogers.^[17][18] Ownership of the Vice Canada Studio in Toronto is reversed, with Rogers holding the minority 30% stake instead.^[8] Vice co-founder Suroosh Alvi stated that Viceland would view its Canadian productions as being of global interest, as opposed to a regulatory obligation of little interest of non-Canadians; one-third of the network's first slate of original programming are Canadian productions from the new facility.^[8] Vice Media plans to enter into similar partnerships in international markets to further expand Viceland.^[14][15] The Walt Disney Company, who co-owns A&E Networks with Hearst Corporation, made a second 10% investment of $200 million in Vice Media to support the production of new programming.^[19]

Prior to launch day, Vice ran newspaper ads for Viceland, containing only the network's name and a phone number that, when called, invited viewers to contribute answers to questions. Viceland signed on in the United States on February 29, 2016 at 6:00 a.m. ET, broadcasting a countdown clock to the official launch later in the evening, accompanied by footage of Vice executives answering the viewer-contributed calls as voice mail. The channel signed on in Canada one hour earlier, at 5:00 a.m. ET, with Bar Talk, a one-hour special hosted by Vice Canada's head of content Patrick McGuire, before airing the aforementioned countdown clock starting at 6:00 a.m.^[20] The network's first program following the official launch was the series premiere of Noisey, following hip-hop musician Kendrick Lamar.^{[15][21][22][23][24][25]}

Programming

Viceland's programming consists primarily of lifestyle-oriented documentaries and reality series aimed towards millennials, directed in Vice's trademark style of "character-driven documentaries".^[8][14] Creative director Spike Jonze stated that his goal for Viceland was to make its lineup have "a reason to exist and a strong point of view", rather than be just a "collection of shows". Jonze explained that Viceland would continue to reflect Vice's core mission of "trying to understand the world we live in by producing pieces about things we're curious about or confused about or that we think are funny. And if it doesn't have a strong point of view, then it shouldn't be on this channel."^[4] Smith stated that the channel's main goal was "trying not to be shitty".^[14] Viceland will focus primarily on lifestyle content; Vice News content will remain largely exclusive to Vice's existing joint venture with HBO.^[14] Jonze stated that unlike the HBO content, Viceland would be "far from objective [reporting]".^[22]

Thirty different programs were developed for Viceland, including original series and expanded versions of existing Vice's web series.^[15] Original programs announced for the initial slate included Thomas Morton's Balls Deep, Flophouse— a series where Lance Bangs follows the lives of up-and-coming comedians at underground stand-up events,^[26] Fuck, That's Delicious— a television version of the food-oriented web series starring Action Bronson,^[27] Gaycation— a series in which Ellen Page explores the LGBT cultures of different regions,^[28] Huang's World— featuring Eddie Huang "exploring identity using food as an equalizer", King of the Road— a series following skaters on Thrasher Magazine's annual scavenger hunt,^[29] States of Undress— a series focusing on fashion weeks around the world,^[30] the music documentary series Noisey, Vice World of Sports, and Weediquette— which focuses on the mainstream cannabis culture and industry.^[4][23][31] Blocks of existing short-form content from Vice (Vice Lab) are also featured,^[32] along with other, acquired content— such as Friday-night airings of cult films accompanied by Vice Guide to Film documentaries on their directors.^[14][22] 10 of the 30 original programs planned were produced in Canada, including Cyberwar— which focuses on cyberterrorism, and Dead Set on Life— an expansion of Matty Matheson's food-oriented web series Keep It Canada.^[15]

A month after Viceland's initial launch, the network announced a second slate of shows, including Traveling the Stars: Action Bronson and Friends Watch 'Ancient Aliens'—a series in which Action Bronson watches episodes of Ancient Aliens with guests whilst smoking marijuana,^[33] Black Market— a series in which Michael K. Williams explores underground economies around the world, the U.S. premieres of Cyberwar and Dead Set on Life,^[34] Party Legends— a show about re-enactments of entertaining party stories,^[35] WOMAN— a series in which Gloria Steinam features the lives of different women around the world,^[36] and VICE Does America— which Abdullah Saeed and two VICE co-workers explore forgotten places of the world.^[37]

Jonze stated that Viceland's original programs will have varying lengths, stating that "some are four episodes. Some are six. Some are eight. We're making everything based on what feels right", and that extended episodes may be possible if warranted.^[23]

On May 3, 2016, Vice announced a partnership with ESPN (a fellow Disney/Hearst venture) to produce sports-oriented content for its properties. The deal also includes some content-sharing between ESPN and Viceland, such as encore airings of ESPN's 30 for 30 documentaries on Viceland, and airings of Vice World of Sports on ESPN.^[38] In June 2016, Viceland broadcast live coverage of the Governors Ball Music Festival.^[39]

International versions

On March 9, 2016, Vice Media announced that it would launch Viceland in the United Kingdom in September 2016 as part of a partnership with Sky plc, marking its first international launch. This includes carriage on its satellite and over-the-top Now TV services, access to Vice apps on Sky Q set-top boxes, and timed exclusivity for video-on-demand/Sky Go access. Sky will handle advertising sales for the channel.^[40][41] In June 2016, Shane Smith announced at the Cannes Lions Festival that Vice Media had reached deals with local broadcasters to expand into 44 countries with the launch of editorial properties and localized Viceland networks, including the Special Broadcasting Service (Australia), Econet Media (sub-Saharan Africa), The Times Group (India), Moby Media Group (Middle East), Multi Channels Asia (Southeast Asia), Sky (New Zealand), V Media Group (Canada, French-language),^[42][43] Ziggo (Netherlands)^[44] and Telenet (Belgium).^[44]

Australia

On November 15, 2016, Australian public broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) re-launched its SBS2 channel as SBS Viceland. The re-branded channel features original news, entertainment, and sports programming carried over from its previous lineup, along with original series from Viceland and other newly commissioned content.^[45]

Canada

A Canadian version of Viceland launched concurrently with the U.S. version, with Rogers Media as a managing partner.^[12][22]

References

External links

• Official website