Kids’ stuff | 6 October 2016

When a new TV channel calls its flagship food show Fuck, That’s Delicious, we might surmise that the Reithian ideals are not foremost in its corporate philosophy.

You probably haven’t heard of Viceland. You certainly haven’t watched it. It seeped on to the airwaves with little fanfare and few viewers. Viceland is the new 24-hour TV channel of Vice Media, the Canadian-American outfit that describes itself as the ‘world’s preeminent youth media company and content creation studio’.

Vice began in 1994 as a magazine but now encompasses a news division, a record label, a film studio and myriad digital ventures. It prides itself on being ‘alternative’, ’disruptive’, sticking it to The Man and on appealing to young people — the highly prized ‘millennials’ — who watch the videos it produces on their phones and tablets. It claims hundreds of millions of viewers in more than 30 countries.

Not for Viceland, though. The channel launched on Sky on Monday, 19 September and, in its first few hours, ratings peaked at an estimated 17,200 viewers.