HBO Cancels "Vice News Tonight", Vice Media Kills Vice Quebec and Closes Montreal Office - This is Despite Being Founded in Montreal in 1994

[JosephTX]

HBO cancels 'Vice News Tonight,' severing relationship with Vice Media

HBO announced on Monday that it had cancelled the award-winning "Vice News Tonight," ending its seven-year partnership with the millennial-focused Vice Media, which is implementing sweeping changes across its organization.

amp.cnn.com

HBO announced on Monday that it had cancelled the award-winning "Vice News Tonight," ending its seven-year partnership with the millennial-focused Vice Media, which is implementing sweeping changes across its organization.

"We've decided not to renew Vice News Tonight after this season," an HBO spokesperson said in a statement. "We've had a terrific seven years partnering with VICE Media, first with the weekly news magazine series and most recently with the nightly news show."

Josh Tyrangiel
Josh Tyrangiel
The 30-minute news program debuted in 2016 to significant fanfare, airing nightly on HBO with the aim of providing viewers context for the biggest stories of the day. Led by Josh Tyrangiel, the executive vice president of news at Vice Media, "Vice News Tonight" has won several awards, including four Emmys for its coverage of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and one Emmy for its coverage on ISIS militants.


News of its cancellation comes at a time of significant upheaval for Vice Media. The Walt Disney Company disclosed in its second quarter earnings report that it had written down its $353 million stake in Vice Media. Vice also canceled "Vice Live" in April just weeks after its debut after failing to attract an audience. In February, the company laid off 10% of its staff, or about 250 employees. And over the past two years, the company has restructured its leadership, including the appointment of former A&E president Nancy Dubuc as chief executive, as it has worked to improve its culture following sexual misconduct allegations.

Tyrangiel said in an email to employees that he will departing from the company at the end of the month. He said he "loved every minute" of working at Vice Media, and that he "could use a break before contemplating" his next move.

In an email sent to employees, Dubuc suggested the cancellation of "Vice News Tonight" was related to AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner, which owns HBO.

"Vice News Tonight" has won several awards, including four Emmys for its coverage of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.
"Vice News Tonight" has won several awards, including four Emmys for its coverage of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.
Dubuc said the decision was made amid "leadership and content strategy changes over at HBO." Since AT&T's merger with Time Warner, which has been renamed WarnerMedia, Richard Plelper, HBO's longtime chief executive, stepped down and a number of senior executives at the network have followed suit. WarnerMedia is also CNN's parent company.

"It's been a great seven-year partnership that began with Shane's vision and ability to make transformative deals, allowing us to be the most Emmy-awarded and youngest nightly news broadcast available today," Dubuc wrote in her email to employees.

Dubuc described Vice News as a "pillar" of the company, and one of "growing significance and power" to the overall brand. A Vice Media spokesperson added to CNN Business that there will be no layoffs as a result of the "Vice News Tonight" cancellation.

"A daily VICE News show will continue and I'll be able to share with you all the details in the coming weeks," Dubuc added.

The Hollywood Reporter reported that Vice Media was working on a news-centric show for Hulu. A person familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN Business that a show is in production.

Dubuc also announced that Jesse Angelo, the former chief executive and publisher of The New York Post, would be joining Vice Media on June 24 as president of global news and entertainment.

"Jesse is joining us to create expanded platform opportunities and franchises for all our great talent and the content we are making every day," Dubuc wrote in her email to employees. "Importantly, his role will really bring to life our ambitions to expand our VICE News global footprint."

Vice Media to shut down operations in Montreal - Montreal | Globalnews.ca

The alternative media company says the closure of the Montreal office follows the overhaul of its platforms.

globalnews.ca

Vice Media is shutting down Vice Québec.

According to the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec (FPJQ), about 20 employees in the province were informed of the decision Friday morning.

Federation vice-president Jean-Thomas Léveillé said he’s worried about the number of news media decreasing because of reduced advertising.

READ MORE: Elections Canada paid ‘influencers’ $325K — but won’t ask for the money back


Story continues below

“VICE is centralizing our Canadian operations around a Toronto headquarters as we grow several key areas of business including VICE Studios and VIRTUE, our advertising agency,” said VICE Canada communications manager Britt Aharoni. “This reorganization is a continuation of our global plan that began earlier this year,” she said.

In February, Vice Media announced the reduction of 10 per cent of its employees, or 250 positions worldwide.

Founded in Montreal in 1994 as a Canadian magazine, Vice has become a media company with operations in more than 30 countries.

 

[Wilhelm Bittrich]

And nothing of value was lost.

 

[Syaoran Li]

Good riddance to bad rubbish!

The sooner Vice and all the other lefty millennial clickbait mills shut down, the better.

 

[Sissy Galvez]

B b b b but muh union??!

Good fucking riddance. Vice used to be good and now it’s all clickbait, social justice garbage thanks to the idiot millennials they hired for cheap labor. Monkeys in a room full of typewriters would have done a better job.

 

[break these cuffs]

B b b b but muh union?‽

Good fucking riddance. Vice used to be good and now it’s all clickbait, social justice garbage thanks to the idiot millennials they hired for cheap labor. Monkeys in a room full of typewriters would have done a better job.

It was always clickbait garbage, but at least it used to be fun.

 

[Richardo Retardo]

Vice used to be really good before it intertwined itself with big media. Hopefully this will make it better in the long run but I doubt it.

 

[_blank_]

Looking forward to the eventual Tim Pool video where he reminds us for the umpteenth time that he used to work for VICE News back when it was cool.

Also, goodbye VICE News, don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.

 

[Takodachi]

I'm a bit sad that they arent gonna go down the same way Gawker did.
There was something oddly satisfying about seeing Gawker being body slammed by Hulk Hogan.

 

[Crippled_Retard]

Turns out constantly defaming people and calling everything problematic isn't a good business model. Every headline like this is a total treat.

 

[RoofGook]

oh no! where am i going to learn about queer congolese bonobo speed dealers now?

 

[It's HK-47]

This is why all of this posturing about Progressivism being the wave of the future and the entire country "turning blue" while these activists take power is so ridiculous. Every other month another limb of a major publication gets hacked off with a bonesaw. If all of this is so popular and is growing in popularity, why are all of the primary sources that push these ideals so fervently dwindling and dying one after another?

The entire argument is absurd on its face. Progressivism is going the way of every other extremist ideology throughout history: It's dying. It's doing it very slowly and very noisily, but it couldn't be clearer that the general public is becoming less and less interested in listening to crybullies with neon-tinged hair.

 

[Harvey Danger]

Looking forward to the eventual Tim Pool video where he reminds us for the umpteenth time that he used to work for VICE News back when it was cool.

Also, goodbye VICE News, don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.

I know it's a meme at this point, but he's not wrong. VICE had some good long form reporting in its early days. What's left over isn't worth scraping from your shoe.

I think it was Eric Weinstein who said modern media organizations are like a shellfish, who slowly secretes its shell over years, bit by bit, until it's large and impressive. Then the original organism at the center dies, and some other creature finds the shell and takes up residence, hauling around all the luster of the original without the work and without the ability to create or maintain the trappings.

"Award-winning" VICE was a hollow remnant of what made the original interesting and edgy, replaced by fools whose weird interests were self-declared "edgy". But no one outside their esoteric circlejerk bought their BS.

 

[Dr. Boe Jangles Esq.]

B b b b but muh union?‽

Good fucking riddance. Vice used to be good and now it’s all clickbait, social justice garbage thanks to the idiot millennials they hired for cheap labor. Monkeys in a room full of typewriters would have done a better job.

This is actually the exact problem.
There is no financial sense in paying and giving benefits to a staff of full time, college educated employees to do a job you can flog to part time students at 10 cents a word.
They’re not the Washington Post, they sell adspace and write eye-catching puff pieces.
Frankly, the fact anyone is surprised is what’s caught me off guard.

 

[Mariposa Electrique]

Get Woke Go Broke

 

[sasazuka]

I remember when Vice was a monthly freebie newspaper in Montreal, back when it was still "Voice" before they had to change the name to "Vice" due to possible brand confusion with New York's Village Voice. I think they even did anime reviews before it was "cool" though I could be remembering wrong.

 

[whatever I feel like]

Losing Montreal? Big deal, we still have New York. We're New York punks, why don't you come by our penthouse and party, ladies?

 

[friends o' niall]

Said it before and will say it again: Vice is the Daily Star for trend-hopping millennial dickheads.

(Can a-logging Vice get someone banned? Asking for a friend)

 

[Piss Clam]

Good when I go to look at a vice video it is like an 8 minute clip about nothing.

Can you like tell me something informative or what?

 

[CheezzyMach]

This is why all of this posturing about Progressivism being the wave of the future and the entire country "turning blue" while these activists take power is so ridiculous. Every other month another limb of a major publication gets hacked off with a bonesaw. If all of this is so popular and is growing in popularity, why are all of the primary sources that push these ideals so fervently dwindling and dying one after another?

The entire argument is absurd on its face. Progressivism is going the way of every other extremist ideology throughout history: It's dying. It's doing it very slowly and very noisily, but it couldn't be clearer that the general public is becoming less and less interested in listening to crybullies with neon-tinged hair.

Pretty much my thoughts whenever I see people freaking out about Google gimping themselves further to try to work the election next year or how SJWs will rule the world because of the assholes in Silicon Valley pushing them.

Reminds me of the Lefty sperging during the 90s and Bush years about how America was about to re-enact Medieval Europe because of the Evangelicals on the Right.

 

[Piss Clam]

Pretty much my thoughts whenever I see people freaking out about Google gimping themselves further to try to work the election next year or how SJWs will rule the world because of the assholes in Silicon Valley pushing them.

Reminds me of the Lefty sperging during the 90s and Bush years about how America was about to re-enact Medieval Europe because of the Evangelicals on the Right.

Man it goes further than that, back to Reagan.

Anytime a "republican" gets in office the media/hollywood/etc goes apeshit.

At least sting had a fairly neutral sense.