Rogers Media will no longer financially support Vice Media’s Viceland channel, according to a report from the Globe and Mail.
The Globe reports Rogers has given Vice advance notice that it plans to cut off funding early next year. Playback has not been able to independently confirm reports. In response to a request from PB sister publication Media In Canada, Andrea Goldstein, senior director of communications at Rogers Media, said “we do not comment on rumours or speculation.” Vice also said it won’t comment.
Rogers Media and Vice announced $100 million joint venture in 2014 to launch a production studio and channel in Canada. The Viceland channel, a joint venture between Rogers and Vice, officially launched in Canada in 2015, taking over the broadcast licence for Rogers Media’s Biography Channel. There is still one year remaining on the three-year deal.
At the time of the channel’s launch, Rogers Media president Rick Brace said Rogers was attempting to reach the sought-after milliennial demo.
According to the CRTC’s 2017 Communications Monitoring Report, Viceland had 1.5 million Canadian subscribers in 2016 and posted a loss of nearly $2.5 million.
More to come.