A+E, Vice link up to rebrand H2

Channels operator A+E Networks and youth-skewing multimedia outfit Vice Media are launching a joint-venture cable network to replace A+E’s H2.

Shane Smith

H2 will be rebranded as Vice in early 2016 and will feature Vice Media’s lifestyle-themed documentary programming.

The network launched in 1996 as a sister channel to History and is available in 71 million homes.

News of the rebrand, reported by the New York Post, comes after A+E invested US$250m in a 10% stake in Vice last year.

At the time it was expected Vice would be given a branded programming block on one of the networks in A+E’s portfolio as it makes it move into linear TV.

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.

H2 will be the second channel to receive a makeover since Nancy Dubuc took over as president and CEO of A+E Networks, following the rebranding of Bio as FYI.