The youthfully cool Vice Media, famous for its guerrilla-style coverage of war zones and drug busts, has built its brand online. Yet it is about to launch a traditional TV channel in the UK and plans to make it available in 44 countries via different partnerships.
It’s almost as if Apple had suddenly unveiled a record deck minus any kind of connectivity. Or is it?
The rapid growth of the new TV channel makes Viceland the "fastest growing television network in history."
Speaking at a press conference at the Cannes Lions advertising festival, CEO Shane Smith said, "When I first announced Viceland was going to launch in 12 countries in 12 months everyone rolled their eyes.
"It turns out they were right, we were wrong. We didn't do 12 countries in 12 months; we did 44 countries in four months."
Netflix could be expanding into current affairs, the company’s Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos has said.
Until now, the on-demand service has focused mainly on film and television content with a long shelf life.
However, speaking in Netflix’s Q3 2015 earnings interview, Sarandos said the company could be following its competitor HBO into producing more timely content.
In 2013, HBO teamed up with co-founder and CEO of Vice Shane Smith to produce documentary series Vice for the US cable network. The show’s fourth season is due to air next year.
HBO’s President of Programming, Michael Lombardo, might have a reputation for being a touch obsessive, but, when it comes to his list of hit shows, it seems that such qualities work just fine.
The upstart news network is winning new respect
