It’s game on for Viceland, the Vice Media TV channel that launched Monday Feb. 29 in partnership with Rogers Media.

The launch is taking place simultaneously in the U.S. and Canada. In Canada, Viceland arrives alongside the debut of skinny basic packages and the upcoming pick-and-pay models. Rogers has brokered carriage deals with BDUs across Canada, including Bell, to carry the channel, creating a new opportunity to reach the fickle and cord-cutter-happy millennial audience. A total of 33 television service providers have signed on to carry a free preview of the channel.

Possibly more significant than its timing alongside seismic changes in Canadian TV, however, is its ambitions to upend the traditional ad model, both in the U.S. and Canada.

In Canada, Vice Media is looking to move outside the 30-second spot by promoting native advertising for TV, in which it would produce in-house content designed to complement its programming. And in the U.S., media reports say the channel will be offering reduced ad-load, looking to de-clutter the space for clients.

The native content idea is a bold one, but not one that will necessarily fly out of the gate, says Lindsey Talbot, managing director, trading at Maxus Canada. “There’s no channel in Canada offering anything like it,” she says. “But the content is pretty risque so it will limit which clients will be willing to work with it…80% of our clients won’t find it appropriate.” She plans to wait and see how the channel fares after launch and how it will be rolled out by Canada’s various BDUs.

David Purdy, chief international growth officer at Vice told MiC, said he sees the opportunity for a new partnership between broadcaster and advertiser. “The agency and studio could be doing a lot more together and you’ll see the first foray into that is the work we are doing for Fido, a daily newscast. You can build on that.”

Native content is still modest in Canada, says Purdy – but Vice hopes to change that. “It’s measured in the millions, not in the tens of millions. There is an opportunity to grow that service.”

That might take some time, says Talbot, who doesn’t see a world where advertisers are willing to break the traditional model by investing in creating sponsored content specifically for one channel. “It’s a fresh perspective as a way to approach majority of the way advertisers do business with them but it will be harder to break that mould here.”

In regard to ad load, Rick Brace, president, Rogers Media, says the channel has no plans to change the amount of advertising time per hour but is opening up to more interstitial type of advertising.

At launch, Viceland will feature nine original series, including documentary series Cyberwar and RISE, unscripted entertainment series Abandonment Issues, Dead Set on Life, Payday and Shroom Boom and pop-culture focused factual entertainment shows VICE Essentials Canada, VICE Guide to Comedy, and VICE Guide to Film, an original series produced out of Vice’s Montreal location.

The inaugural batch of Canadian original programs featured in the Viceland lineup were all produced out of Vice Studios, said Michael Kronish, EVP of television at Vice Media. While Vice has not yet commissioned a project from an external prodco, Kronish is not ruling it out for the future, noting he met with two large Canadian production companies earlier this month.

“That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t [comission original series from indie prodcos]….I’ve met with many Canadian indie production companies and we have exchanged our ideas. We have given them a vision for the kind of content we want to make. There is absolutely no reason if a company…pitches the perfect show, that we would not want to work with them. We would figure out a way to do it,” Kronish told Playback Daily.

Colette Watson, VP of television and broadcast operations at Rogers Media, said the current focus on letting Vice Studios handle production on the bulk of original series is part of a larger brand-building strategy for the channel, although she also did not rule out commissioning content from outside indie production companies in the future.

“In order to survive in the new world of television – whether its fragmentation, cord cutting, whether it’s pick and pay – we have to transform. A way to survive is to be a strong brand. And Vice is a really strong brand for the demographic we want to reach, which is millennials. So we are kind of letting them be the experts on that,” Watson said.

For Rogers customers, Viceland will be offered as part of a bundle alongside five other entertainment channels, including A&E, Bravo and Showcase. That package is valued at $5 for Rogers subscribers. It will also be offered with a TV Everywhere-style GO app for cable subscribers.

– from Media in Canada, with files from Julianna Cummins

Updated at 9:36 a.m. to indicate how many carriers will provide free preview of channel