 | |
| Type of business | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
Type of site | Video hosting service |
| Founded | March 2007 |
| Headquarters | New York City , United States |
| Owner | Vice |
| Key people | Spike Jonze (creative director) Suroosh Alvi (Vice co-founder) Shane Smith (Vice co-founder) |
| Advertising | Vice Media |
| Current status | Merged |
VBS.tv was an online television network owned by Vice Media, and later absorbed into VICE.com. The network produced original, short-form, documentary-style video content under the auspice of VICE Films. Subject matter included humanitarian issues, music, insider travel guides, and news. The creative director of the network was Spike Jonze.[1]
History[edit]
Formation[edit]
VBS began as a deal between Viacom-owned MTV Networks and Logo Group. In March 2007, the network was formed; MTV funded the formation of the network, and Vice magazine would supply the content. MTV has rights to distribute VBS content across its worldwide network of channels.[2] According to Vice co-founder Suroosh Alvi, "traditional journalism always aspires to objectivity, and since day one with the magazine we never believed in that...Our ethos is subjectivity with real substantiation. I don't think you see that on CNN."[3]
Circulation[edit]
VBS videos are available via the network's website, as well as being broadcast on MTV Latin America[2] and MTV2.[4] VBS is currently featured as a weekly show on MTV2.[5] VBS.tv content has appeared in CNN as part of their CNN presents line-up, with CNN stating that "... We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers."[6] Much of it is now available at VICE.com.[citation needed]
Content[edit]
The network's videos feature reporting on popular culture, travel, extreme sports, and music.[7] The site has also produced special-interest and current affairs-based shows such as an interview with Hezbollah's self-proclaimed mayor of Beirut and a show that explored allegations of environmental abuse. It has also approached drug issues, producing a documentary about the criminal use of the drug scopolamine in Colombia,[2] a report on cocaine smuggling submarines[8] and a documentary on hallucinogenic frogs in the Amazon rainforest.[9][10] Other coverage includes a series of short documentaries about Darfur, Hurricane Katrina,[3] Liberia, North Korea and suicide in Japan's Aokigahara Forest.[11] The network also produced Heavy Metal in Baghdad, a feature-length documentary film about Acrassicauda. The director of content of the network was Santiago Stelley.[12]
Filmography[edit]
| Title | Format | Producer | Channel | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vice Guide to Travel | Documentary film series | VBS.tv | VBS.tv, MTV2 | 2006 |
| Colombian Devil's Breath | Documentary film | VBS.tv | VBS.tv | 2007[13] |
| Balls Deep: Sewers of Bogota | Documentary film | VBS.tv | VBS.tv | 2007 |
| Asses of the Caribbean | Documentary film | VBS.tv | VBS.tv | 2007 |
| True Norwegian Black Metal | Documentary film series | VBS.tv | VBS.tv | 2007 |
| Heavy Metal in Baghdad | Rockumentary | VBS.tv | VBS.tv, film festivals | 2007 |
| Alarma! | Documentary feature | VBS.tv | VBS.tv, film festivals | 2008 |
| The Alli Show | Documentary television series | VBS.tv | MTV2 | 2009[14] |
| VBS Meets Watermelon Woman | Documentary film | VBS.tv | VBS.tv | 2009 |
| White Lightnin' | Dramatic feature | VICE Films | Film festivals | 2009 |
| Aokigahara Suicide Forest | Documentary film | VBS.tv | VBS.tv | 2009[11] |
| Hamilton's Pharmacopeia: Sapo Diaries | Documentary film | VBS.tv | VBS.tv | 2009 |
| The Vice Guide to Everything | Television series | VBS.tv | MTV2 | 2010 |
| Interview with a Cannibal | Documentary film | VBS.tv | VBS.tv | 2010 |
| Rule Britannia | Documentary film series | VBS.tv | VBS.tv | 2010 |
| The Ride | Documentary feature | VICE Films | Film festivals | 2010 |
| Heimo's Arctic Refuge | Documentary film | VBS.tv | VBS.tv | 2010 |
| The Fourth Dimension | Three short films | VICE Films | Film festivals | 2012 |
| Vice | Documentary television | HBO | HBO | 2013 |
| Lil Bub & Friendz | Documentary feature | VICE Films | Film festivals | 2013 |
| Reincarnated | Documentary feature | VICE Films | Film festivals | 2013 |
References[edit]
- ^ Vice Music Chooses The Orchard Archived 1 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine Business Wire. 13 January 2009
- ^ a b c A Guerrilla Video Site Meets MTV The New York Times. 19 November 2007
- ^ a b The Snarky Vice Squad Is Ready to Be Taken Seriously. Seriously. Wired. 18 October 2007
- ^ THE ANTI-CHRIST OF THE INTERNET RETURNS TO MTV2 DigitallyOBSESSED, 15 November 2008
- ^ "When Vice is Virtue – Jeff Beer – Feature". Creativity Online. 24 March 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
- ^ "CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
- ^ Television for trendsetters The Guardian. 22 October 2007
- ^ Mackey, Robert. "Advances in Narco-Submarine Technology", The New York Times, 6 July 2010
- ^ Simonini, Ross. "A Psychonaut’s Adventures in Videoland", The New York Times, 10 February 2012
- ^ Hoby, Hermione. "Hamilton Morris gets high for a living – and invites you to watch", The Guardian, 1 June 2012
- ^ a b Oshida, Emily. "The Forest turns Japan's suicide forest into an obstacle course for Americans", The Verge, 8 January 2016
- ^ Derrick, Lisa. "Vice TV: Revolutionary, Bold Pop Culture Explorations", The Huffington Post, 12 November 2009
- ^ Cotroneo, Christian. "Devil's Breath: Scopolamine, AKA Burundanga, Hailed as 'World's Scariest Drug'", The Huffington Post, 3 September 2013
- ^ "The Alli Show Debuts with Josh Grant". 7 October 2009. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
