Following on from its high-profile copyright infringement spat with YouTube, New York-based media giant Viacom Inc. has this week snubbed the hugely popular Google-owned video-sharing service by handing full episode downloads of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” to online streaming service Hulu.
Viacom hands full episode streaming of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report to Hulu. Image: Thomasrdotorg/Flickr.
While already secured for complete online viewing through the official ComedyCentral site and also via Comcast’s Fancast site, Hulu’s double scoop of MTV Networks’ hit satirical news shows is yet another slap for YouTube, the platform that perhaps played a (contentious but) pivotal role in providing the likes of The Daily Show with access to an expansive fan base beyond the reaches of conventional television.
Further to the announcement of its streaming of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, Hulu representatives also revealed that the online service would also soon play host to PBS content such as “American Frontiers,” “Carrier,” “Nova,” “Scientific American,” and “Wired Science.”
Hulu, which is jointly owned by News Corp. and Universal, currently boasts more than 70 content contributors, which provide the service with in excess of 700 television and movie titles.
Most notably, Hulu has content deals with the likes of media giants such as Lionsgate, Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), Sony and Warner Bros., along with sporting deals with both the NBA and NHL.
Viacom has been clashing with YouTube ever since February of 2007, at which time the media conglomerate hit the Web site with a request to remove some 100,000 copyrighted video clips that had been posted by users.
The following month, Viacom slapped YouTube with a massive $1 billion USD lawsuit on the grounds that continuing copyright infringement was damaging Viacom’s revenue stream while creating ill-gotten advertising cash for the Google-owned site.
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