Bloomberg And VICE, Sitting In a Tree…

By Alex Weprin 

Are Bloomberg TV and VICE working on a new TV network together? At VICE’s “upfront” presentation last night, that seemed to be the insinuation, according to Ad Age‘s Michael Learmonth.

Vice announced a coming news channel, and told the audience it would be produced in partnership with Bloomberg. Asked for details of this, a Vice spokesman walked it back a bit — this was a boozy affair, after all. It’s not a partnership just yet but talks, which probably explains why Bloomberg Media Networks CEO Andy Lack was briefly in the audience.

VICE already has a large amount of video content, as well as content deals with larger media companies… including CNN.

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A TV channel could make sense for both companies. VICE gets a foot into the potentially lucrative cable television business, and can bring its content to more people. Bloomberg gets another potential media outlet, one that would resonate with younger consumers, a demo it does not reach as successfully as it would like.

On the other hand, VICE has almost nothing to do with business news, which has always been Bloomberg’s bread and butter. Stay tuned.

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