Full episodes of ‘The Daily Show,’ ‘Colbert Report’ vanish from the Internet

[onestepforward]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/12/full-episodes-of-the-daily-show-colbert-report-vanish-from-the-internet/

Full episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are no longer available on Comedy Central’s websites thanks to a fight between parent company Viacom and satellite TV provider DirectTV.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Viacom has opted to cut back on the number of full television episodes it offers on the Internet after pressure from DirecTV, which stopped carrying 26 Viacom channels this week, including MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, BET and others.

Viacom did not announce the plan to remove full episodes of some of its most popular shows, including Spongebob Squarepants and Jersey Shore, leaving hopeful viewers confounded at an apology message on Thursday morning that encouraged them to watch brief clips of the shows instead. Strangely enough, while full episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report were unavailable via their own websites, they were still being offered through Hulu.com.

-snip-

Watching full episodes on Comedy Central was the only way I had to watch both shows because I cannot afford cable. I just checked CC's website and they are gone.

[grantcart]

1. Can't wait to see what Jon has to say about this.

[annabanana]

2. See what happens when he's gone more than a week?

All hell breaks loose!

[earthside]

3. Thank Viacom ...

... for demanding a 30 percent fee increase from DirecTV.

That's a lot, in fact it is too much -- I can't afford a big increase in my TV rates.

So, Viacom pulls its channels from DirecTV.

Consequently, DirecTV directs its customers to the Comedy Central web site so folks can watch episodes ... so Viacom pulls the show.

[onehandle]

4. We always watch on Hulu. A better distribution, imo. nt

[freshwest]

9. +1

[onestepforward]

12. I need to look into Hulu.

Thanks!

[cbayer]

14. Absolutely.

[Gold Metal Flake]

15. What does Hulu cost?

[onehandle]

16. Nothing for basic. Includes the last 10 Daily Shows. Hulu Plus costs 8 bucks/month and gets you --->

Hulu Plus™ lets you watch hit current and back season TV shows and acclaimed movies anytime in HD for $7.99/month with limited advertising. We think of it as a complement to the free service on Hulu.com. For many popular shows on our service, Hulu Plus offers every episode of the current season, not just a handful of recent episodes. Hulu Plus subscribers also have access to back seasons and full runs of some of TV's greatest shows, including many that were not available online before.

Even better, you can watch Hulu Plus content in HD (when available) on multiple devices, including your laptop, the Apple iPad and iPhone, PlayStation® 3, Roku, and TVs and Blu-ray players from Sony, Samsung and Vizio. (More devices are coming soon.)

You can sign up for a 1-week free trial at www.hulu.com/plus, or you can also find a sampling of select Hulu Plus content using our free downloadable app for the iPad, iPhone, iPod touch and other supported devices.

[w8liftinglady]

23. I have hulu instead of directv...I'm very happy with it.

[justice1]

25. I'm another happy customer; I don't mind paying $8.00 a month to support the company.

I refuse to go back to satellite or cable. Even in rural Nebraska, I get 15 stations with a $30 antenna. I have a ROKU, and Netflix. Plenty of channels for a total of $16.00 a month. Another bonus, I don't lose reception in storms, like I did before.

[Lionessa]

5. Well two more. Before long it will be all of them.

Seems most of USA originals used to be, but now you can only watch online if you have your Cable Provider account number.

TNT has pulled a lot as well.

CBS's Warner Bros shows that I watch only put up teaser episodes for some of my favs like Person of Interest and Mentalist.

Little by llittle.

[onestepforward]

7. I watch Rachel's show on MSNBC's website

and I'm afraid that they might drop their online episodes if pressured to do so.

[Lionessa]

11. Me too. It's happening.

And as much as it important to me, I actually do understand why ad free channels care, and I get that. But these cable companies are just trying to double charge us, for internet and cable, and fighting the obsolescence of an industry, the ad channels could be totally self-supportive if ditched cable. I look forward to the beginnings of that revolt. Because anymore the on-line ads were as plentiful as the cable ones, I don't see a real loss of money from ads. So I'm not angry, just sad.

[Ganja Ninja]

6. I'm really getting sick of these satellite and Cable Companies pulling this shit.

Last week Dish dropped AMC and IFC over some kind of tiff involving a lawsuit.

[Gregorian]

8. Last night I dreamed that Jon asked me to be a writer for the show.

God it was cool.

I'm pretty upset about the yanking of the shows. I have to wonder if it's conservatives angry about having the truth broadcast. And when I think of it, the two shows really belong on a venue that is more news oriented than comedy. After all, they have more truth to them than many of the real bullshit new shows on the air today.

[Initech]

10. This is what happens when 6 profit hungry media companies control 90% of it.

Fuck you Viacom.

[backscatter712]

13. I could bring up a few web sites...

but doing so would violate DU's TOS.

[onehandle]

18. Even if you Want to stay legal, the alternative is often far easier.

As illustrated by The Oatmeal:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones

[Quantess]

17. Shit!

It's the only way I know of that I can watch, too. Here in my secret european location, LOL. It's really the only american tv I go out of my way to watch.

[Xolodno]

19. Viacom is screwing itself...

There going to take a hit in ratings by not broadcasting on DirecTV. Commercial sponsors won't be happy.

And by now pulling it from their web-site, they lose even more. They could have easily ran commercial pro-mo's of upcoming shows, episodes, etc. Thereby putting the screws to DirecTV. And could even appeased some of their advertisers by running some of their commercials, ads, etc. online.

Viacom is probably thinking by dropping availability of their content, they may force DirecTV subscribers to move to cable or Dish. They really didn't think this through...Many people are probably locked into a contract with DirecTV and it would be costly (and a hassle) to change.

And of course as my wife said last night about this..."well, this gives us a chance to catch up on some episodes on Netflix".

[onestepforward]

21. They actually did run online promotions of upcoming shows

and regular commercials after every segment, usually for over a minute. I guess it wasn't enough.

Online MSNBC runs commercials also, but only 15-30 seconds.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

20. I blame Direct TV. Ever since Murdock bought it, it's been a money sucker

When I first signed up I had to buy my own equipment at Best Buy for $150 and self install it but it was only $19.99 a month.

The main reason it was so cheap was because they didn't need to pay to maintain thousands of miles of cable on poles strung all over town. All channels were included for that price but the movie channels.

Basic cable was $45 back then.

Then Murdock bought it and immediately raised it to $24 and he split the lineup so all the good channels were $15 more so you were now paying that bastard $40.Then they figured "Why not charge what cable companies charge? People will pay it." but were held back from that by competition from Dish Networks.

The cable company raise their rate to $60 a month.

Then the cable companies did the same thing. You now needed a box to get syfy in the back room when you got it off the raw cable before. (Why do they even BOTHER having a channel changer in TVs anymore?)

Then Dish Networks split their lineup. It was almost like they made a call to each other because they both raised their prices at the same time. Now the difference in price between them and cable is negligible.

You know, one of the ways the Romans kept their citizens from rising up was by keeping them fed and entertained. The old "Bread and Circuses". Cut America off of their access to both and the people will notice what's going on.

And who to blame for it.

[FarCenter]

22. Sumner Redstone -- a real 1%er

Sumner Murray Redstone (born Sumner Murray Rothstein; May 27, 1923) is an American media magnate. He is the majority owner and Chairman of the Board of the National Amusements theater chain. Through National Amusements, Sumner Redstone and his family are majority owners of CBS Corporation, Viacom, MTV Networks, BET, and the film studio Paramount Pictures, and are equal partners in MovieTickets.com.

...

In 2007 he was ranked number 86 on Forbes magazine's list of the hundred richest people in the world, with an estimated worth of US$ 9 billion. The declining stock market of late 2008 impacted his wealth. Recently, with the partial recovery of the stock market, Sumner Redstone's net worth is again on the rise.[35] In March 2012, Forbes estimated Sumner's net worth to be 4.4 billion dollars.[36]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumner_Redstone

[aquart]

24. Not again.

Bloody hell.

[MADem]

26. Direct TV are a bunch of assholes, it would seem. Isn't DISH cheaper, anyway?

I have cable for the time being--just too hard to switch because I'm not the only one using the system and some people do better with learning a new system than others.

[Elwood P Dowd]

27. Dish is a piece of shit.

Direct TV blows them away. I switched years ago and have no desire to go back to the Dish crap. Cable is even worse than Dish. I've tried all three and plan to stick with Direct TV.

Viacom hit Direct TV with a massive increase in fees, and Direct TV said 'no thanks'.

[MADem]

28. Why is Direct tv better?

I have been comparison shopping for years, and Dish looks like the better deal. What makes you like Direct better? More channels? Better customer service?

I don't particularly like cable, except for the fact that I can get it on my laptop when I travel--that's about the only "win" for it. That, and I've got older family members (older than me) who are slow to embrace change.