There's a new kid in the cable neighborhood. The media company Vice launches its new television channel, Viceland, Monday, a move it first announced in early November. A joint venture with A+E Networks, Viceland will move into the home previously occupied by H2, a History Channel spin-off, while that channel will continue to operate internationally.
"It feels like most channels are just a collection of shows," writer and director Spike Jonze, who serves as creative director for Vice, was quoted as saying when the company announced its new venture in November. "We wanted Viceland to be different, to feel like everything on there has a reason to exist and a strong point of view."
Jonze added: "Our mission with the channel is not that different from what our mission is as a company. It's us 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."
Viceland will air content 24 hours a day. Upon announcing the channel, Vice posted a trailer, which has since garnered nearly a million views.
Vice published a guide to watching its new channel Monday, for those with a satellite dish or a cable setup as well as for the cord cutters who figure heavily among its target demographic of 18- to 34-year-olds.
Some of Viceland's lineup will be familiar to viewers. Shows that have previously been available on Vice's website—including Balls Deep, in which Thomas Morton finds out "what humanity's deal is" by spending time with very different kinds of people; F*ck, That's Delicious, which follows rapper Action Bronson's appetite; and Weediquette, a show about marijuana hosted by Krishna Andavolu—will all have new seasons on the cable channel.
Gaycation, in which actor Ellen Page and her best friend, Ian Daniel, "explore LGBTQ cultures around the world," is a brand-new show set to air Wednesdays at 11 p.m. Eastern time. The New York Times calls it one of the channel's "more promising shows." Still other programs slated to air on Viceland include Flophouse, documenting broke comedians; Noisey, about music; and Vice Lab, a late-night variety show.
"This network is the next step in the evolution of our brand and the first step in our global roll-out of networks around the world," Shane Smith, the co-founder and CEO of Vice, was quoted as saying in the November press release. "This new network allows us to continue our innovation in storytelling and content creation and take it to the next level."
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