HBO Delays Start of ‘Vice News Tonight’

HBO and Vice Media are delaying the launch of their evening newscast until Oct. 10, which will air weeknights at 7:30 p.m. ET. The original launch date was Sept. 26.

Minus an anchor and operating under the assumption that most viewers will be looking for something other than the top headlines, “Vice News Tonight” won’t just rehash the major stories of the day. Instead, the daily half-hour program assumes that viewers have already read the headlines on their phones and laptops, and want a more well-rounded, in-depth look at what’s happening around the world.

“Most people understand the big ‘what’ of news by 7:30,” said Josh Tyrangiel, “Vice’s” Executive Vice President of News Content. “They have a general sense of what’s happened out there, and I’m not here to fight that.” Instead, “actually placing stories in context and understanding them in a timely way is where the great value is. We’re trying to build a long-term relationship with viewers that’s focused on how the world works.”

Featured will be a mix of voiceovers, graphics and video packages to focus on national and global news, technology, the environment, economics, and pop culture. When “Vice News Tonight” does tackle daily news, it promises to offer a different perspective than cable or broadcast competitors. Rather than air a segment on Hillary Clinton’s pneumonia diagnosis, for example, Tyrangiel says they might do a segment on the oldest candidates to run for office, or one on late presidential hopeful Paul Tsongas, who suffered a cancer relapse after the 1992 election.