Rogers and Vice Announce 24-Hour Channel Called VICELAND

For Ian Hardy for mobilesyrup

Rogers and Vice Media announced its three-year $100 million content, studio and distribution partnership a year ago, and today its strategy has been unveiled.

A new 24-hour specialty channel called VICELAND has been created to be a “world-class Canadian production studio.” There is no indication of the price point, but Rogers states VICELAND will officially launch Winter 2016 and be available across TV, mobile, and online. To bring this channel to life, Rogers will replace and rebrand Bio channel as VICELAND.

The partnership also promised an opportunity for Canadian content creators to distribute their work through a content incubator called the VICE Canada studio, which is currently developing and producing nine new Rogers-commissioned series.

The Vice Canada studio focusses on producing daily news, long-form content, and “underreported issues and topics” in several categories, including food, fashion, tech and sports. According to the release, the partnership has seen “more than 100 writers, directors, editors, producers, and filmmakers been hired to create sought-after, homegrown content for all screens, to be exported around the world.”

Some of the titles you can expect to see are Gaycation with Ellen Page, Black Market with Michael K. Williams, and Terror with VICE Media Co-Founder Suroosh Alvi. The Rogers-commissioned projects in development includes a documentary called Cyberwar, RISE, an unscripted entertainment series, Abandonment Issues, Dead Set on Life, Payday, and Shroom Boom.

Earlier this year Rogers’ sub-brand Fido announced Daily Vice, a companion to Vice’s existing online and television content that allows Fido customers to access a six-minute video that summarizes the latest news.

It’s expected that this content will be available across all devices, including smartphones and tablets.

This is an excerpt. Click here to view the full article in mobilesyrup