Hulu to remove Daily Show, Colbert Report
The popular video Web site Hulu is losing two of its most popular offerings: The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
Hulu announced Tuesday that Comedy Central was pulling its shows from the site beginning March 10. Both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report consistently rank among Hulu's most watched programs.
Comedy Central, which is owned by Viacom Inc., was a relatively late arrival to Hulu, which is co-owned by NBC Universal, Fox Entertainment Group and the Walt Disney Co. (which owns ABC). When Colbert and The Daily Show were added in June 2008, some technology blogs such as Techcrunch.com said it signified Hulu's arrival as the pre-eminent provider of TV programming on the Web.
In a blog post on Hulu, Andy Forssell, senior vice president of content and distribution at Hulu, offered a "fond farewell" to the Comedy Central shows, lamenting their exit.
"In the past 21 months, we've had very strong results for both Hulu and Comedy Central, in terms of the views and revenue we've generated," said Forssell. "After a series of discussions with the team at Comedy Central, though, we ultimately were unable to secure the rights to extend these shows for a much longer period of time."
But Forssell also said that Hulu and Comedy Central continue to talk about "a number of opportunities" and that he was confident Hulu will be working with them "in multiple ways in the future."
Comedy Central issued a statement that said its agreement with Hulu had "concluded," but the channel also suggested an amicable parting.
Hulu announced Tuesday that Comedy Central was pulling its shows from the site beginning March 10. Both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report consistently rank among Hulu's most watched programs.Comedy Central, which is owned by Viacom Inc., was a relatively late arrival to Hulu, which is co-owned by NBC Universal, Fox Entertainment Group and the Walt Disney Co. (which owns ABC). When Colbert and The Daily Show were added in June 2008, some technology blogs such as Techcrunch.com said it signified Hulu's arrival as the pre-eminent provider of TV programming on the Web.
In a blog post on Hulu, Andy Forssell, senior vice president of content and distribution at Hulu, offered a "fond farewell" to the Comedy Central shows, lamenting their exit.
"In the past 21 months, we've had very strong results for both Hulu and Comedy Central, in terms of the views and revenue we've generated," said Forssell. "After a series of discussions with the team at Comedy Central, though, we ultimately were unable to secure the rights to extend these shows for a much longer period of time."
But Forssell also said that Hulu and Comedy Central continue to talk about "a number of opportunities" and that he was confident Hulu will be working with them "in multiple ways in the future."
Comedy Central issued a statement that said its agreement with Hulu had "concluded," but the channel also suggested an amicable parting.
(Via AP)
Comments