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Viacom Puts the Daily Show Archive Online
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Oct 18, 2007 03:31 PM
from the lewis-black-catches-it-for-a-segment-we-call-back-in-black dept.
from the lewis-black-catches-it-for-a-segment-we-call-back-in-black dept.
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.'"
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Should have guessed (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Should have guessed (Score:5, Insightful)
Kinda demonstrates the case for p2p file transfers, huh.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Kinda demonstrates the case against p2p file transfers...
Re:Should have guessed (Score:4, Insightful)
This "we must have control at all costs" never makes sense to me, especially when there's a financial reason not too...
Parent
Re:Should have guessed (Score:4, Informative)
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..
Parent
I'd enjoy this but... (Score:2)
They will never learn! (Score:5, Insightful)
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! (Score:5, Insightful)
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?
Parent
Re:They will never learn! (Score:4, Funny)
when their server becomes a pile of molten slag?
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
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! (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
wrong. (Score:2, Interesting)
I think it's a good business decision provided they can keep up with the demand.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
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.
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What needs to happen for us to get quality programming online is that people like John Kricfalusi who hate how TV networks are run need to do exactly what he did with The Goddamn George Liquor Program and some of his other work. They need to self-distribute online or direct to DVD. If Google let people with professionally produced,
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
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 t
Re:They will never learn! (Score:5, Interesting)
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!!
Parent
Nitpick (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Nitpick (Score:5, Informative)
So I guess they do considerer "The Daily Show With Craig Kilborn" to be a different show.
Parent
Re:Nitpick (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Nitpick (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
In a word... (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm concerned (Score:4, Funny)
ABC (Score:2, Informative)
Not the entire run (Score:4, Informative)
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 [yahoo.com]
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Not the entire run (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Nice start... (Score:2)
I just wonder what, say, DirecTV and (to a lesser extent due to bundled broadband) Cable TV operators will do once enough people start ditching their video TV subscriptions, or at least curtailing them to a sizeable extent (I realize this is quite a long ways off, but
Might Cut Down on Copyright Violations (Score:3, Interesting)
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... (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
and he didn't fix it.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I Also Hope (Score:2)
It would be nice to watch the exxpression on the judge and juror's faces as they hear what John & Steve have to say.
that's nice (Score:2)
Only reason they're doing this: (Score:5, Interesting)
Why is it cut up into 3 minute clips then? (Score:2, Insightful)
I watch on my TV, not my computer (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
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Who's the idiot that told slashdot? (Score:2)
Why bother with old shows? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
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 f
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That said is there already some kind of aggregrator site that links directly to videos. The rate that these new video sites open up make it hard to keep track of.
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