Viacom Puts the Daily Show Archive Online

tburton writes "Viacom has put the entire eight year run of the Daily Show with John Stewart online. The content is available from the official Daily Show site, and features clip rating, tags, and numerous community features. The whole thing is supported by relatively unobtrusive contextual ads. 'Viacom's decision to post its entire archive--while fighting YouTube in the courts--sets the scene for a battle between the established media players and their high profile entertainment brands against the user generated content sites, most notable YouTube. Also watching closely the Viacom experiment will be the telco IPTV industry which has seen the market place change rapidly as the quality of online video continues to improve, with at least one platform/site, Vimeo, already offering 1280X720 HD quality direct from the browser.'"

Comments

Should have guessed

[cucumberjones]

It got Slashdotted.

Re:Should have guessed

[wpanderson]

Service unavailable - Fail to connect

Kinda demonstrates the case for p2p file transfers, huh.

Re:Should have guessed

[shinmai]

And this is what people kept telling viacom, when they decided to sue youtube, to get more people to use their own video service.

Many of the companies that threatened to, or did sue youtube, seemed to do so to get more users on their own video-sites. Funny thing is (albeit I might not be what one would describe as an average user) I for one haven't. I like YouTube because it knows what it wants to do, and does it well. It wants to host videos, and it's doing a good job at that. Instead of suing, these companies should've (IMHO, of course) have partnered up with Google & Co. and use the existing fanbase their content had on Youtube, instead of removing the material and hoping people would like to, instead of watching cool videos from one site, wade through half a dozen different sites to do the same..
I'm not too hot on Comedy Centrals own video player, for instance, and as such, have stopped watching clips of Daily Show and the Report, and instead reverted back to my old habit of downloading the whole episodes from tvrss (Only one channel shows either of the two here in Finland: CNBC shows Daily Show Global Edition, which is a shortened version of the original, with a different moment of zen). Was going to post AC, but what the hell..

Re:Should have guessed

[Endymion]

so instead of leaving things be on gootube, and letting google pay for the bandwidth, they decide to setup their own site so they can pay for the bandwidth themselves?

This "we must have control at all costs" never makes sense to me, especially when there's a financial reason not too...

They will never learn!

[garcia]

This is for one reason and one reason only, because GooTube exists. If there was no such thing available to so many people, the media companies wouldn't give a flying rats ass.

But because people are obviously interested in this medium and they are pissed that Viacom is being a bunch of fucking litigious bastards, they had to do something... We'll see just how it stacks up but based on the other networks' actions, I doubt it will be nearly as popular as the content available in one place - YouTube.

I realize they want to control the content they own and all, but seriously, isn't it just easier to have someone else foot the bandwidth bills and to have your viewership get it the way they want? They will never learn :(

Re:They will never learn!

[Shakrai]

They will never learn :(

Uhhh, yeah, I'm all about "sticking it to the man" too and I get rather pissed off when media outfits try to use DRM to lock down content that I've paid for, but what exactly is the problem with this?

They are putting the entire archive of a fairly popular TV show online, at no expense. Even if you have to watch commercials with it (do you? You did on their old site, but TFA seems to suggest you won't) how can you complain about that?

I would love to see an online archive of Babylon 5, Star Trek:TNG, Law & Order, 24, or any of the other TV shows that I watch. If I could go back and watch my favorite episode at the click of a button and the only downside was a few ads (that I'd see on TV anyway) how am I losing?

Re:They will never learn!

[compro01]

how can you complain about that?

when their server becomes a pile of molten slag?

Re:They will never learn!

[PopeRatzo]

I don't do business with Viacom, so as long as I can find episodes ripped to avi or mpeg, "elsewhere" on the Internet, I will watch them that way.

In 2007, personal consumption has become politicized. We have learned that most corporations, given any opportunity to screw their customers, will enthusiastically do so.

So, when I can identify a corporation that is engaged in practices that I find offensive, and I have any small opening to thwart them (even though any effect of my personal actions will be very tiny), I'm going to do it.

Since the laws of our country are increasingly designed exclusively for the benefit of those corporations (especially, it seems, those most offensive) and to enhance their profits, my behavior will almost certainly be illegal to some extent.

So be it.

Re:They will never learn!

[Shakrai]

when their server becomes a pile of molten slag?

One would assume that they are using some sort of distributed solution, like Akamai. One would also assume that Viacom has enough resources to pull this off if they decide to do so. I'm not having any problems watching (well, downloading, cuz I'm reading /.) videos on that site. Maxed out my 10.0mbit connection as a matter of fact. And that's AFTER a /. article about it....

Re:They will never learn!

[ucblockhead]

Don't get your hopes up. They won't put those shows up. They might put up topical shows like "The Daily Show" because they are essentially worthless a week or so after air. You will never see "The Daily Show" DVDs or year old "The Daily Show" reruns on late night TV because no one would buy/watch. Episodic television, on the other hand, are worth money decades after release.

Re:They will never learn!

[RobotRunAmok]

I realize they want to control the content they own and all, but

Stop. Stop right there. No "buts." Quit while your ahead.

Lookit, all the non-creators and non-artists of the world said "We want the professional distributors to provide your work online, and on-demand! If you don't give it to us the way we want it, we'll just make copies of it and distribute it ourselves." And along came Napster, and [finally] Youtube.

So now the creators and distributors (Viacom happens to be both) finally begin to steer their gigantic battleship around and begin to offer some shows on the Net. OF COURSE they're going to use their own site to do so (DUH!). Yet you still find a reason to complain because... why? You've already got Youtube bookmarked and it's too much work to mark a new site?

No, the reason (one of them) is that YouTube had a great leveling effect on video. It was the one site where a professionally produced 30-minute sitcom sat on the shelf next to a webcam vid of a coupla 14-year-olds lip-synching to "Barbie Girl." And this was a source of great satisfaction to the lip-synchers. Now, as more and more of the professional content melts away from YouTube and gets archived on the artists' and distributors' own sites, YouTube reverts to the Major Bowes Amateur Hour status from whence it started, like that Flowers from Algernon guy when the drugs wore off. Meanwhile, the semi-pro artists, not quite ready for Viacom, feeling the great sucking cold draft in the room left by the professional content going bye-bye, begin to glance nervously at the barbie-girlers on their left and the exploding Mentos lunatics on their right, and they begin to bail off to online distribution environs that aren't, um, painted in such primary colors. Youtube begins to garner that odiferous MySpace cachet, other distribution sites erupt to fill the want/need, and a new era of entertainment distribution arises, putting content at the fingertips of anyone with a cellphone or PC, and money in the pockets of the content creators.

Youtube is dying. Long live online video distribution!!

Re:They will never learn!

[Lumpy]

There is a online archive of those. it's called Netflix.

and I get to watch them in low compression 720X480 resolution instead of 320X240 incredibly high compressed.
Incredibly high bandwidth, very high latency. and no DRM... well no drm that isn't easily circumvented.

Re:They will never learn!

[Sonivius]

I bought a collection of shrinkwrapped 'Daily Show' DVDs at Best Buy.

Re:They will never learn!

[Jthon]

I would love to see an online archive of Babylon 5, Star Trek:TNG, Law & Order, 24, or any of the other TV shows that I watch. If I could go back and watch my favorite episode at the click of a button and the only downside was a few ads (that I'd see on TV anyway) how am I losing?

I see you haven't heard of AOL's In2TV which just happens to let you watch and stream every episode of Babylon 5, along with some other classic shows (you can even download high quality episodes of some shows). Check it out at http://television.aol.com/in2tv. (This is probably the only good thing I've ever seen come out of AOL.)

Nitpick

[dorsey]

Hasn't the Daily Show been on tv for more than eight years? Or do they just consider the Craig Kilborn years to be a completely different show?

Re:Nitpick

[The Cheez-Czar]

Both this article and the original LA Times says its an archive of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart", Which started in 1999.
So I guess they do considerer "The Daily Show With Craig Kilborn" to be a different show.

Re:Nitpick

[vux984]

Or do they just consider the Craig Kilborn years to be a completely different show?

I know I consider them to be a completely different show.

Not that I have anything against Craig Kilborn or the show while he hosted it, but Jon really did take the show in a significantly different direction. And I think its a significantly better show as a result.

Re:Nitpick

[halcyon1234]

I think that "Viacom Puts the Entire Daily Show with Jon Stewart Archive Online as I think the show is technically called that now? But you're right, the show began in 1996 and Craig Kilborn was the host until 1999" is too long of a title for a Slashdot article.

I'm concerned

[jollyreaper]

That sounds cool and all but something inside of me is screaming "It's a tarp!" But seriously, whenever a gigacorp does something that seems like a good thing, it just means they're distracting you from the lawyer sneaking up behind with the Urotsukidji razor dildo assault cock. "Oh, wow, this looks interest---YEEEIEEEEEOOWW!!!"

ABC

[Huitzlopochtli]

ABC.com also offers streaming, 1280X1024 HD full episodes on their website. It's still in beta, but works fine.

Not the entire run

[skintigh2]

The Daily Show has been around since 1996, but 8 years does cover all the Jon Stewart years.

Also, full shows are not available, just clips, though supposedly you can piece together most episodes.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071018/wr_nm/dailyshow_dc_2

Re:Not the entire run

[Hatta]

Yeah it's a pretty weak gesture. I've got an RSS feed dumping torrents in a watch directory shared on my lan. All I have to do is turn on my xbox and watch. If I have to sit in my computer chair and click a bunch of shit I'm not even going to bother.

Re:Not the entire run

[YrWrstNtmr]

If I have to sit in my computer chair and click a bunch of shit I'm not even going to bother.

Do you also have a meat paste drip in one arm, and a Mountain Dew drip in the other arm? God forbid you actually have to go through that huge motion of 'clicking' something.

Re:Not the entire run

[jZnat]

Computers are supposed to automate things for us, not make us work for the computer. Having to jump through a bunch of hoops just to do something is completely unacceptable when there are far easier and more efficient ways of doing things.

Might Cut Down on Copyright Violations

[dprovine]

One thing this does is solve the problem that people want to share in community something from The Daily Show that they found really funny, but there's no legal way to do it. Now, you can just link to the right clip from your blog, and put your comments, and welcome others.

There may be less need to sue YouTube, because there will be far less reason for anyone to grab a clip and upload it to YouTube in the first place.

It's like the old "common-sense-test" question: if you go into the bathroom and the tub is overflowing, what do you do first? Answer: shut off the water. So they should stop making The Daily Show, and there'd be no problem.

Wait, that wasn't my point at all. This common sense question has nothing to do with the problem. Drat, my analogies never work out!

Not the "Entire" Daily Show archive...

[Tetsujin]

Where are the Craig Kilborn eps?

Re:Not the "Entire" Daily Show archive...

[ultramk]

In Hell. That's what the devil makes c-list celebrities watch for the rest of eternity.

Only reason they're doing this:

[SpectreBlofeld]

Because nobody will buy DVDs of old news programs and they know it.

wrong.

[Anonymous Coward]

When I have control of my content, I have control of the costs and benefits. It appears to me they took their copyrighted videos off youtube in order to start up their own service. They'll control the look, feel and ad revenue. That's the big key here. Comedy Central (et al) will get money in return. Maybe not a profit but Google will see little to no profit.

I think it's a good business decision provided they can keep up with the demand.

Re:wrong.

[Shakrai]

I think it's a good business decision provided they can keep up with the demand.

And if they can't keep up with the demand then they can always partner with Google/Youtube and have them foot the bandwidth bill. And Viacom would still get get a slice of the revenue because it's their content.

Although something tells me that Viacom won't have major problems paying the bandwidth bill or hiring people smart enough to manage this for them.

Re:wrong.

[truthsearch]

Didn't Google just start a new revenue-sharing plan on YouTube? Viacom should upload complete episodes as soon as they air so they can beat the other uploaders and still turn a profit.

Why is it cut up into 3 minute clips then?

[MikeUW]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't really like watching a show that's been sliced and diced into little pieces...I generally prefer the whole thing. I'm sure that having individual parts reduces overall bandwidth for their servers, but could there at least be an option for the whole show? Otherwise, I don't see how this is any better than if someone were to download it at a higher resolution/bitrate from a torrent site.

I watch on my TV, not my computer

[kherr]

This is nice and all, but this Flash video crap is stupid. Not only is it not cached properly by web browsers, but people don't watch TV on their tiny computer screens. I watch content via my Apple TV on my gigantic HDTV home theater, I have no interest in sitting at a keyboard waiting for video snippets to load in some Flash video player with a poor user interface.

At least with YouTube I can access the content directly from my Apple TV (not that YouTube has much to offer in their typical 3-second or whatever clips). I suspect if MySpace gets enough video content Apple will eventually add support for that as well. But companies like Viacom and NBC who decide to offer their own site of Flash video are going to find themselves unnecessarily limiting their potential audience. They'd be much smarter to figure out a way to centralize distribution.

Re:Viacom makes me hate the Daily Show

[Shakrai]

I don't care how good the actual program is, any more than I care how good an RIAA-backed CD is. It may be ad hominem (ad corporatem?) but if they want to take their ball and go home I'm not going to follow begging.

Give me a fucking break! They aren't CHARGING YOU FOR THIS. THEY ARE GIVING IT AWAY. There is no way in hell that you can compare them wanting videos removed from Youtube while GIVING AWAY THE CONTENT FOR FREE to the bullshit that RIAA is trying to pull.

Either I watch on YouTube, or I don't watch at all. I'm not bookmarking 5,000,000 video sites to do casual browsing. That's stupid.

Again, grow the hell up. It's really that much harder to do a Google search for 'The Daily Show' and following the first link as opposed to doing a search on YouTube for 'The Daily Show'? If you owned the content would you want YouTube raking in the ad dollars for something THAT YOU CREATED?

In a word...

[thatskinnyguy]

Yes.

So...

[trrwilson]

How long do you think it will be before someone comes up with a way to automatically view, save, and organize/categorize all these clips? Open DShowDL Wait X hours Ding! Everything!

5,000,000 video sites

[iminplaya]

And STILL nothing on!

Motherload?

[Rhesusmonkey]

You guys are all wrapped up in the legality and whatnot when the greater issue is right in front of you: Motherload, the comedy central content delivery system is abysmal. It forgets what it's doing, fails to load reliably, spams the same video ads over and over while simultaneously showing you photo and text ads for the exact same product (seeing the Starbucks logo in 3 places at once does nothing to affect my buying habits, sorry) It's just a pain in the hinder. I'll go anywhere, youtube, gootube, even myfreepaysite if I can find a user friendly interface that isn't going to abuse me more than the dirty television does.