Hulu Adds Colbert Report, Daily Show - No Joke!
In somewhat of a coup for them, Hulu, the joint venture between NBC
Universal and News Corp., has landed a few more shows for their
burgeoning video vault, including both The Colbert Report and The Daily Show from Comedy Central.
We had to check and make sure the press release wasn't a joke, but there are indeed full episodes from both programs available. It comes as somewhat of a surprise, considering Comedy Central parent company Viacom has not signed on to Hulu, which launched as a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp. and does not yet have any other major networks on board.
But on the other hand, MTV Networks, the Viacom division that encompasses Comedy Central, has made more distribution deals than its broader corporate overlord, and both Stewart and Colbert were already available on the Web in one form or another. And Viacom had already made select content available to Hulu rival Joost, but now that the Joost hype has faded completely, experimenting with Hulu's ad-supported distribution seems logical. Making the popular Comedy Central talk shows available could be the media conglomerate's way of dipping a toe in the water.
For those of you into more public TV-related shows, Hulu will be adding PBS content from shows such as Nova, later in June.
We had to check and make sure the press release wasn't a joke, but there are indeed full episodes from both programs available. It comes as somewhat of a surprise, considering Comedy Central parent company Viacom has not signed on to Hulu, which launched as a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp. and does not yet have any other major networks on board.
But on the other hand, MTV Networks, the Viacom division that encompasses Comedy Central, has made more distribution deals than its broader corporate overlord, and both Stewart and Colbert were already available on the Web in one form or another. And Viacom had already made select content available to Hulu rival Joost, but now that the Joost hype has faded completely, experimenting with Hulu's ad-supported distribution seems logical. Making the popular Comedy Central talk shows available could be the media conglomerate's way of dipping a toe in the water.
For those of you into more public TV-related shows, Hulu will be adding PBS content from shows such as Nova, later in June.
