Viceland (stylized in all caps), and Vice TV in the United States, are brands used for television channels owned and programmed by Vice Media. Viceland launched on February 29, 2016, with two branded cable channels; the American version (rebranded from H2) is a joint venture majority-owned by A&E Networks (who owns a stake in Vice Media, alongside a separate ownership stake by A&E's co-owner, The Walt Disney Company), while the now defunct Canadian version (rebranded from a Canadian version of former A&E sibling, Bio) operated as a Category A-licensed specialty channel majority-owned by Rogers Media. Operating under the creative direction of film director Spike Jonze, Viceland was a lifestyle-oriented channel that primarily aired documentary and reality series aimed towards millennials, leveraging the resources of Vice's verticals with new original series, along with adaptations of and reruns of existing Vice web series. Some of the network's launch programs were hosted by existing Vice personalities such as Action Bronson and Thomas Morton, as well as notable figures such as Eddie Huang, Elliot Page, and Lance Bangs. Overview Precursors Vice's first foray into television was VBS.tv, an online video joint venture with Viacom's MTV Networks division (specifically, MTV and Logo TV. As part of the venture, MTV Networks had international television distribution rights for the content produced for VBS.tv, resulting in the creation of television specials that compiled content from the service (in the U.S., these aired on MTV2). Vice later produced a series for MTV, The Vice Guide to Everything. In 2013, Vice premiered a self-titled newsmagazine series for HBO. The following year, HBO's parent company Time Warner expressed interest in acquiring a stake in Vice, and proposed the possibility of Vice taking over its struggling cable news channel HLN, and revamping it as a millennial-focused service drawing from its own content. However, the deal fell through due to concerns regarding editorial control. On August 29, 2014, A&E Networks—a joint venture of Hearst Corporation and The Walt Disney Company—acquired a 10% minority stake in Vice Media for $250 million. On October 30, 2014, Vice announced a CDN$100 million joint venture with Canadian media conglomerate Rogers Communications, to build a studio in Toronto's Liberty Village neighborhood for producing original content. Rogers holds the minority 30% stake of the Vice Canada Studio in Toronto. Rogers also announced an intent to launch Vice-branded television and digital properties in Canada in 2015. Rogers CEO Guy Laurence