Rogers ventures into Viceland

Rogers Media and youth-skewing outfit Vice Media will launch their 24-hour Canadian channel this month, with talent including actors Ellen Page and Michael K Williams onboard.

Shane Smith

Viceland, which had originally been slated to launch in winter 2016, will debut on February 29 and will feature hundreds of hours of new programming, including Page’s Gaycation and Williams’ Dead Set on Life.

Rogers described the net, which is accessible via mobile devices, as a “new culture and lifestyle channel” that “explores the world’s food, sex, fashion, music, sports and much more.”

The licence currently used for Bio channel is set to be rebranded as Viceland, with the new network available free for the first three months.

Vice Canada’s studio working on nine new local original series including docuseries Cyberwar, unscripted entertainment series Abandonment Issues and Vice Guide to Comedy.

Last year Vice and A+E Networks unveiled a joint-venture cable network to replace A+E’s H2 and the firm is also preparing a dozen TV networks across Europe.

Run by Shane Smith, Vice currently operates in 36 countries and claims to reach more than 150 million people per month across all platforms, which include a suite of YouTube channels. It also produces a self-titled current affairs series for premium cablenet HBO.

“Viceland is the definition of destination viewing and we couldn’t be more excited to bring our viewers this incredible slate of fresh, premium programming unlike anything seen before on a linear channel,” said Colette Watson, VP of broadcast and TV operations at Rogers.