Vice plans UK television channel

Youth media brand backed by Rupert Murdoch and Sir Martin Sorrell to expand from online to broadcasting 

Vice, the youth media company, is preparing to launch a traditional television channel in the UK, as it seeks commercial growth to match investors’ multibillion-dollar expectations.

The company, which produces lifestyle content and journalism for under-35s, is expected enter the UK broadcast market with satellite and cable channel in the first half of next year, industry sources said.

It is understood the plans are at an early stage and could still change. Vice’s London arm, based in Shoreditch, the epicentre of the so-called 'hipster’ culture the company chronicles, is however in the midst of commissioning full-length documentary series from established third-party British producers and directors intended to run on the channel.

The British channel would be Vice’s third after the US and Canada, its home market.

Vice made a documentary about a controverial basketball tour of North Korea  Photo: AP

Vice also provides material to other broadcasters in several European countries and programmes are shared across the network. It has previously sought to break into the UK television market via a partnership with Channel 4 News but is now preparing its own channel.
The company grew out of a magazine founded in Montreal in 1994 but is now primarily focused on video. Alongside edgy online coverage on subjects such as recreational drug use and fringe politics Vice has pioneered the market for sponsored videos, whereby brands support commissioning and pay for production.

The model has attracted interest from the media and advertising establishment. News Corp and WPP have been involved in a series of funding rounds that have pushed its valuation to $2.5bn.
The most recent accounts available for the UK arm, for 2013, reported a pre-tax profit of £3m on sales of £38.2m. The 2014 accounts are overdue, according to Companies House.
A spokesman for Vice said suggestions it will launch a UK channel next year were “speculation”.