Vice launching a sports channel

Vice, the Montreal-based magazine and international media empire, is launching a sports channel -- Vice Sports, natch -- in June, in time for the World Cup of soccer. 

Vice describes it as “a deep dive into the drama that surrounds sports before and after the great moments on the field.”

According to a post on Streamingmedia.com, Vice is also adding new content to its new food channel, Munchies. The enterprise's YouTube channel has close to 7 million subscribers and its HBO series had just been renewed for a third season.

Vice co-founder and CEO Shane Smith, who had clearly started his NewFront celebration early, declared that “upfronts are weird,” because one-third of the people in the room were simply curious what Vice was doing, one-third were journalists looking to pick the company apart, and one-third would give them money. 

“I believe we’re the first platform-agnostic company out there,” Smith said. “All we care about is that we make good content.” 

“We don’t have a f*cking algorithm. We have 5,000 contributors around the world,” Smith declared. 

Print ads only 54% of SI swimsuit issue; web 31%

It's a very special case, but here's some interesting data about the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. Though its print ad pages were down to 82 in 2012 from over 100 in 2008, the president, Mark Ford is not bothered. The reason? Print advertising revenue is only 54% of the pie now, while web is 31%, marketing 10% and smartphones/tablets 5%. A real, multimedia powerhouse.[This from a promotional eletter from Media Industry Newsletter (MIN), a resource I'd dearly love to read, but can't afford.)

Remote and neglected Cree community spotlighted by Canadian Geographic team

Writer Linda Goyette, photographer Liam Sharp and Toronto-based filmmaker Peter Dreimanis have been combined to create a powerful cross-platform magazine package in the December issue of Canadian Geographic magazine. It's about something that would otherwise be out of sight and out of mind -- the fight for a decent elementary school in Attawapiskat, Ont., a remote Cree settlement on the western shore of James Bay. 

Goyette's writing and Sharp's photos are complemented by a documentary short by Dreimanis — with music by Dreimanis and Eamon McGrath. A slide show of Sharp’s pictures is accompanied by audio he recorded on site. 

Managing editor Dan Rubinstein tells us

The magazine article certainly stands on its own as a very compelling piece of journalism, shining a light on how the most vulnerable members of the Attawapiskat First Nation — young children — are caught in the the morass of federal bureaucracy. The film takes the story over the top.

Handheld users can't be bothered to use internet access

For those of you who wonder why anyone would want to read a magazine article or watch "Pirates of the Caribbean" on a teeny cell phone screen comes word that you've got plenty of company.

According to a story published by the Centre for Media Research (Media Post), a new study has found that barely 5% of people access the internet from a mobile device -- even if their handheld is equipped for it. And only 1 in 5 access news or television on their devices. 50% of respondents to the study by Media-Screen say mobile internet access doesn't fit into their lifestyle. 58% have internet-equipped mobile devices that they don't bother to use.

This has implications for the publishers out there who may be wondering how and where to allocate their time, budget and attention in multi-media applications. Although this study doesn't specifically address magazines, it appears that home and work screens are more likely -- at least for now -- to be the devices of choice for digital access to magazine content.