Viceland
Viceland's "Weediquette."
- Rogers Communications ended a $100 million joint venture with Vice
Media for its cable channel, Viceland Canada, on Monday, according to The Hollywood Reporter. - Viceland Canada reportedly had substantial revenue loss and low ratings.
Canadian media giant Rogers Communications is set to pull Vice Media's Canadian cable channel, Viceland Canada, off the air.
On Monday, Rogers terminated the $100 million joint venture it signed with the Montreal-founded media company (now based in New York) in 2014. The problem: low ratings and substantial revenue loss, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
According to THR, Viceland Canada suffered a $2.49 million pre-tax loss in 2016, the last fiscal year measured. The channel's overall revenue fell 14.1 percent from the $6.36 million it posted in 2015.
Viceland Canada will go off the air on March 31, and the station's Toronto production studio will close as a result.
"In this crowded content universe and as audience habits change, we continue to evolve our strategy to deliver unique content to Canadians," Rogers Communications said in a statement to THR on Monday. Rogers signed its $100 million pact with Viceland Canada in 2014 as a three-year deal for production and distribution.
Moving forward, Viceland's content - including programs like the talk show "Desus & Mero" and the marijuana docu-series "Weediquette" - will be available to Canadians on Vice.com.
Viceland has also suffered low ratings in the US - considerably lower than H2, the History channel branch Viceland replaced in 2015.
The cancellation of Viceland Canada comes in the wake of a New York Times report last month that reported a history of allegations of and settlements over sexual misconduct in the company.
Vice Media suspended its president, Andrew Creighton, and chief digital officer, Mike Germano, after the report. On Monday, Vice announced that it was investigating new claims of sexual misconduct made by a former Vice reporter, Billie JD Porter.
In November, The Wall Street Journal reported that Vice Media was expected to miss its 2017 revenue target of $800 million. The company was last valued at $5.7 billion after the private-equity firm TPG invested $450 million in Vice in June.
Vice Media has received big investments from Disney, Hearst, and A+E Networks.