The long rumored deal between Viacom and Hulu to bring Comedy Central hits The Daily Show I and The Colbert Report back to Hulu's finally has happened; the two companies last night confirmed the shows would move back to the site after being absent since March.
Financial terms--the reason Viacom originally pulled the shows--weren't revealed.
But on a blog posting Wednesdy night, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar said Viacom, whose own CEO Phillippe Dauman, long has been a critic of Hulu's business model, had also agreed to expand its involvement in Hulu Plus, bringing many popular shows from Viacom's media networks, including Comedy Central, MTV, BET, VH1, Spike TV, and TV Land to the Hulu Plus subscription service.
Under the agreement, current full episodes and clips of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" will be available on the free ad-supported Hulu service and through the $8-a-month Hulu Plus subscription service.
Kilar said Viacom "will make available to Hulu Plus subscribers a selection of current programs, like Jersey Shore, Tosh.0, Teen Mom 2, Manswers, Let's Stay Together, and Hot in Cleveland 21 days after they air." Content availability will vary on a show-by-show basis. In the coming weeks on Hulu Plus, we also will be adding more than 2,000 episodes of shows from Viacom’s library including Chappelle’s Show,The Hills, Reno 911, and many more. In the coming weeks on Hulu Plus, we also will be adding more than 2,000 episodes of shows from Viacom’s library including Chappelle’s Show,The Hills, Reno 911, and more.
Kilar, in the post, also criticized the traditional business model followed by the TV industry (see related story), saying Hulu ads were more efective and a better bet for advertisers.
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Rumor Mill: 'Daily Show' headed back to Hulu?