Thanks, lawyers!
October 27, 2006 5:32 PM   Subscribe

It's over. YouTube is taking down Daily Show and Colbert Report clips.
posted by mullingitover (85 comments total)
 
It's almost as though...someone is trying to make money! The horror!!!
posted by sdrawkcab at 5:35 PM on October 27, 2006


It's interesting that it's a "third party" requesting that the links be taken down. Given Comedy Central's lenient attitude about posting the show, I have to wonder if enemies of either YouTube or Comedy Central sent in counterfeit takedown notices. I just can't see how this benefits Comedy Central.
posted by mullingitover at 5:37 PM on October 27, 2006


Good Christ, how will YouTube survive without the occasionally not wholly unamusing content?
posted by jack_mo at 5:42 PM on October 27, 2006


I'd guess that Comedy Central will be doing their own posting, like many other tv providers are doing.
posted by Ironmouth at 5:42 PM on October 27, 2006


Google's deep pockets are an attractive target, aren't they?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:42 PM on October 27, 2006


Is this really a surprise? Google owns YouTube now, and Google Video has always had strict rules about copyrighted material.
posted by Target Practice at 5:46 PM on October 27, 2006


Now we'll have to start linking to crooksandliars again.
posted by smackfu at 5:46 PM on October 27, 2006


It's almost as though...someone is trying to make money! The horror!!!

Is there a pay site that shows all the Daily Show and Colbert Report videos?
posted by shnoz-gobblin at 5:47 PM on October 27, 2006


you can buy 'em off iTunes.
posted by mdn at 5:49 PM on October 27, 2006


The surprise is what?
posted by HuronBob at 5:52 PM on October 27, 2006


Daily Show and Colbert Report torrents are going to work a lot faster now. Time to go back to the Azureus RSS plugin and just get the entire episodes.
posted by mullingitover at 5:52 PM on October 27, 2006


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

*sigh*
posted by Nathanial Hörnblowér at 5:53 PM on October 27, 2006


It's almost as though...someone is trying to make money! The horror!!!

Make money ? Only government make money, others take away from someone else pocket, giving exactly what back ?
posted by elpapacito at 5:56 PM on October 27, 2006


Comedy Central already stream all the segments online, for free. I imagine they'll be back on YouTube soon enough.
posted by stammer at 5:57 PM on October 27, 2006


Oh, you'll see Comedy Central on YouTube soon enough. But the clips will be posted by MTV Networks, packaged with Adsense, and perhaps even commercials.

This is step two. Step one was taken in August.
posted by F Mackenzie at 6:01 PM on October 27, 2006


YouLube
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 6:07 PM on October 27, 2006


It's interesting that it's a "third party" requesting that the links be taken down.

No, they're just referring to third-party liability. The owner is Comedy Central, the infringer is the person who posted the clip, and YouTube is the "third party". If they fail to act on the DMCA, they are open to a contributory infringement claim.
posted by dhartung at 6:13 PM on October 27, 2006


There is so much content anymore that I wonder just how profitable pay-for-play services are for players like Comedy Central and MTV. I, for one, see more of The Daily Show and things like music videos on "open" services like YouTube. They wouldn't even be on my radar if it wasn't for YouTube.
posted by benATthelocust at 6:13 PM on October 27, 2006


If I were them I would do this too. They want to open up YouTube as a revenue stream but it will be impossible to do this if they do not draw a line in the sand. Expect micropayments.
posted by unSane at 6:15 PM on October 27, 2006


It's so fascinating that the USA was a 'pirate nation' for so much of its history. I'd like to see Europe start to demand reparations for the 100+ years of copyright and patent infringement we've indulged in. It would also be interesting to see a country try to be a pirate nation now...Oh wait, that's China.
posted by mullingitover at 6:16 PM on October 27, 2006


This isn't about comedy central or The Daily Show, it's about advertisers not wanting YouTube to destroy the TV business model. While YouTube was relatively new and was seen as a way to build buzz for products, advertisers were ok with it, but now that it's being backed by Google, they're worried that it could become an alternative to television itself, and are going to force the networks to fight it.
posted by gsteff at 6:22 PM on October 27, 2006


omg dey yhood ma flkr!
posted by VulcanMike at 6:24 PM on October 27, 2006


I really don't get why this is a big deal. If someone started broadcasting their own TV channel with copied material, and everyone started to watch that, there'd be no more money for TV shows. That's what is happening with YouTube - the money to make the shows has to come from somewhere, so they'll eventually come to agreements for internet licencing, to be paid for by micropayments, ads or subscription.

Simply: TV is moving on to the internet, and it's a long time coming. Expect more adverts, but higher video quality, and far more video to choose from. It could work out pretty well for eveybody, so long as the content owners don't get dumb and greedy (*crosses fingers*).
posted by MetaMonkey at 6:26 PM on October 27, 2006


gsteff said: This isn't about comedy central or The Daily Show, it's about advertisers not wanting YouTube to destroy the TV business model.

I'll be you $1.65 billion that this is war is already over.

Oh, and good timing -- this is literally today's news:
Google execs have vowed the company will not soften its stance on copyright once it has completed the purchase of video sharing website YouTube.
...
YouTube and Google have seen the ham-fisted Digital Rights Management mistakes of Sony and others, and learnt that trying to completely control the way users view or listen to copyrighted material is counterproductive. Instead, the company seems keen to make the most out of new technology by working with it rather than against it.
posted by VulcanMike at 6:29 PM on October 27, 2006


Comedy Central already stream all the segments online, for free

Indeed, the clips straight from Comedy Central are generally more complete than what shows up on YouTube, and they've been around much longer. I've been scraping RSS feeds of these clips for about two years now, if anyone's looking for a new source to watch Comedy Central shows online. The only downside is that the clips are Windows Media format.
posted by scottreynen at 6:36 PM on October 27, 2006


It was bound to happen... It's still a damn shame though!
posted by thebigdeadwaltz at 6:44 PM on October 27, 2006


Time for an email campaign to Comedy Central, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. It's only to their benefit to allow this stuff up. Half of the reason these shows are so popular is all the buzz they get on the internet by people posting these clips.
posted by caddis at 6:45 PM on October 27, 2006


How is this a DMCA violation?
posted by cellphone at 6:52 PM on October 27, 2006


I don't watch TV. When someone asks me if I've seen the latest episode of 'Lost' I can only remind them of the fact that I don't watch TV. Though when I am asked about the latest relevant episode of The Daily Show, I can usually respond in the affirmative (specifically: "Fuck yeah!")

No longer. Point: terrorists.
posted by jimfl at 6:53 PM on October 27, 2006


Always count on the lawyers to suck the fun out of life.
posted by runningdogofcapitalism at 6:54 PM on October 27, 2006


The Market 2.0
posted by muckster at 6:55 PM on October 27, 2006 [2 favorites]


It's almost as though...someone is trying to make money! The horror!!!

sdrawkcab, in light of this comment it's sorta interesting that your homepage (as linked from your user profile at this writing) consists entirely of embedded youtube clips of television programs.
posted by George_Spiggott at 6:57 PM on October 27, 2006


I just can't see how this benefits Comedy Central.

I don't think I've bothered to tune into either show once since the best clips became available online. Datapoint.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 7:03 PM on October 27, 2006


In a couple of years Google will discover that it has paid $1.6 billion in stock for a web site with a huge collection of insipid videocasts by angsty and abored 14-year olds, because anything and everything of interest will have been taken off YouTube by copyright suits...
posted by clevershark at 7:07 PM on October 27, 2006


Not having a Tivo, and refusing to sit in front of the TV at 11pm, or whenever it's on, the youtube links to The Daily Show were a godsend. Now that it's gone, I'll just have to go back to eating dirt.
posted by furtive at 7:07 PM on October 27, 2006


This is a cryin' shame, to be sure. Thank god for BitTorrent, though.
posted by Effigy2000 at 7:17 PM on October 27, 2006


I don't think I've bothered to tune into either show once since the best clips became available online. Datapoint.

"Anecdote" is not a synonym for "data". It could be argued that the prevalence of clips floating around keeps people interested in watching the show on a regular basis.
posted by secret about box at 7:23 PM on October 27, 2006


You know, it was funny, I tried to find the Rich Franklin and Anderson Silva fight on YouTube but it wasn't there. So I checked Google Video and it was super easy to find. I like hypocrisy in my tech overlords
posted by fenriq at 7:34 PM on October 27, 2006 [1 favorite]


Reports of personal behavior are in fact data. However, one individual's experience does not represent conclusive data, nor was my presentation of such meant so to be.

(15 love, your serve.)
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 7:37 PM on October 27, 2006


Lots of places to get Colbert and Stewart. I just hope they don't take down Olbermann. With MSNBC's crappy non-linux-compatible video player I depend on YouTube to show me those clips.
posted by Kickstart70 at 7:37 PM on October 27, 2006


The objective is not to get peope to watch the show. The objective, Viacom's objective, is to sell advertising first, and boost cable ratings second.

Not so good for Jon Stewart et al who made themselves relevant, but Google couldnt' allow it to continue. They've got to monetize the angsty teen diary side of it, becasue thats the revenue.

On the whole, this will ultimately be good for apple.
posted by Pastabagel at 7:40 PM on October 27, 2006


Back to Crooks and Liars, I guess.
posted by homunculus at 7:47 PM on October 27, 2006


(15 love, your serve.)

I don't understand the goal of this little bit tacked on at the end. Is it supposed to make you sound clever or right? Both? Is it intended to belittle anything I have said previously, or perhaps even preemptively downplay any response I might have in the future?

Go back and look at what you said originally. You come off authoritative. I said what I said because it shoudn't be taken that way. Whether your anecdote is qualitatively relevant or not, it required grounding.
posted by secret about box at 7:51 PM on October 27, 2006


How is this a DMCA violation?

Are you serious? The fact that this is a DMCA violation is not even debatable. It's copyrighted content, posted without the permission of the rightsholder.
posted by dhammond at 7:54 PM on October 27, 2006


I like hypocrisy in my tech overlords

This doesn't have anything to do with hypocrisy, really. Google has yet to receive a takedown notice and, when they do, they will take the clips down. Such is the very fun game of DMCA whack-a-mole.
posted by dhammond at 7:56 PM on October 27, 2006


dhammond, but Google is YouTube. Or they own it at least.

But you are right, it s a silly game of whack-a-mole. There's still plenty of places to get the clips. Honestly though, I don't really find Colbert's show all that funny, it seems alot repetitive and more "hammy" than I can put up with. I liked Colbert more when he was still Jon Stewart's bitch.
posted by fenriq at 8:00 PM on October 27, 2006


So, who's Stewart's bitch now? I think that's really what's important here.
posted by secret about box at 8:03 PM on October 27, 2006


You can always watch clips here. I do.
posted by leftcoastbob at 8:04 PM on October 27, 2006


One of things that made the Daily Show such a success was its viral quality - the passing of clips around, and the public discourse it created. Locking those clips up will reduce the amount of chatter and bring down overall ratings - there will be less aggregate attention paid to the Daily Show. John knows this, but the lawyers can't see past their own noses to understand how the hidden internet currency of attention works.
posted by stbalbach at 8:09 PM on October 27, 2006


There's so much Stupid here, it's hard to know where to start. Google buying Youtube for elenty gajillion dollars, Comedy Central thinking that segments of the shows up on streaming sites are anything but a net positive, the mad piggy clueless scramble of advertisers to suck money out of as much as they can as quickly as they can, right on down to this post itself ("It's over"? Yep, the end is nigh. I'm about to hang myself out of grief after this bit of news).

On the whole, this will ultimately be good for apple.

More's the pity, those DRM cultural stealth-injection shitweasels.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:09 PM on October 27, 2006


Google is YouTube. Or they own it at least.

Technically (and technically is all the lawyers care about), I don't think the sale has closed yet. My guess is that, as of today, YouTube is not legally part of Google.

But, even if I'm wrong about that, it is a long process to track down links for thousands of clips and get the documentation in order. The Google stuff will come soon is my best bet (or maybe Comedy Central does a PPV deal with them).
posted by dhammond at 8:09 PM on October 27, 2006


daily show and colbert report clips have gone forever.. oh Mohamed on my cock what are we to do.. oups I've just shat in my pants with disappointment. It would have missed your attention that they were shit anyhow. If you had seen Paxman you'd not be worrying about ironed flat crap like that. Blessed ladies fuck holes, what has become of the single best hope for humanity.. nothing Europe is still there. Yeah think of the marketing, cause it aint political.
posted by econous at 8:12 PM on October 27, 2006


econous, was that intended to be deep, indecipherable, both, or neither?

However, you reached 'lame' within the first 10 words.
posted by Kickstart70 at 8:16 PM on October 27, 2006


Comedy Central is too smart to leave youtube completely forever. I bet it all returns soon under an official Comedy Central user account. So this big takedown is just to kill the unofficial clips.
posted by mathowie at 8:17 PM on October 27, 2006


Kickstart70 those two shows were the most potent criticism broadcast in the nation, the greatest analysis on TV. The conversation in the thread is powerful evidence that the nicest empire ever seems to be missing the point.
posted by econous at 8:29 PM on October 27, 2006


Go back and look at what you said originally. You come off authoritative.

No I didn't. You are in error, sir.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 8:30 PM on October 27, 2006


So who's going to be the smart guy and start a YouTube in some Enemy of America country? Maybe Venezuela?

It's a good market for a non-Google adwords biz, too.
posted by kenlayne at 9:02 PM on October 27, 2006


This isn't about comedy central or The Daily Show, it's about advertisers not wanting YouTube to destroy the TV business model.

It's not about the advertisers; it's about the network. Advertisers can go advertise on youtube, and probably target a hell of a lot better then they can on comedy central. They'd love it. It's the networks that don't want to lose their content.

Still, I'm really surprised that Colbert would have his clips taken down, given how much he talks about youtube and promotes it.

So who's going to be the smart guy and start a YouTube in some Enemy of America country? Maybe Venezuela?

Good luck with the bandwidth... If you tried to do it it would probably starve the entire nation's Internet feed.
posted by delmoi at 9:38 PM on October 27, 2006


dhammond, good point on the sale not being finalized yet. I guess they're just starting with the biggest and easiest whack-a-mole to start smashing on.

I don't see YouTube working as a pay-per-viewing model though. the quality absolutely blows.
posted by fenriq at 9:46 PM on October 27, 2006


You know, if I wasn't busy waiting for tonight's battlestar galactica to download, I might give a flying fuck about this.
posted by signal at 9:54 PM on October 27, 2006


1. Google launch video site: is full of dull copyright-free tedious shit, nobody uses it.

2. YouTube launch site: is full of neat things. Everyone uses it!

3. Google look at their crappy and busted, want hot and shiny. Buy it!

4. Ouch, too hot. Too shiny. Hurts eyes.

5. Google say: "we will do same things with this that we did with Google Video".

6. Google's new video site: full of dull copyright-free tedious shit, nobody using it.

6. Youtubers launch boat: on caribbean, everyone full of pina coladas!
posted by bonaldi at 10:02 PM on October 27, 2006 [1 favorite]


The thing is, google video has as plenty of copyrighted stuff perhaps vaguely as much as youtube - but at much higher quality, and full length. YouTube with its shitty quality and short snippets is not a good replacement for the original show, while google video is.
posted by MetaMonkey at 10:15 PM on October 27, 2006


sorry as, insert comma after 'stuff'
posted by MetaMonkey at 10:16 PM on October 27, 2006


I haven't shelled out a cent to cable for three minute lo-res clips before youtube and I'm not about to start paying cable for three minute lo-res clips after youtube. I might consider watching broadcast, but I haven't been able to pick up anything but snow via an antannae for at least a decade.

It was a fun year, TV, but I've gotten along just fine without you most of my life. My wallet is still not your turf.
posted by sourwookie at 12:09 AM on October 28, 2006


Youtube died for me when Metalocalypse was taken off, which was about two days after the takeover. R.I.P. (At least I can still watch Inu-Yasha ... god I'm a nerd)

I for one am glad to have traded television for torrents and generous websites. Advertising bugs the shit out of me, and I will never take for granted the ability to just watch a program instead of spending 8 minutes every 1/2 hour being bombarded with, essentially, corporate propaganda.

I show up at movies ten minutes late on purpose now, to avoid that giant screen telling me that drinking Diet Coke will make my life rule in unimaginable ways.
posted by Riovanes at 1:07 AM on October 28, 2006


Go back and look at what you said originally. You come off authoritative.

He described his experience, and followed it with the word 'datapoint'. Which was precisely what he was providing -- a single point of data.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:25 AM on October 28, 2006


YouLube

YouLube your GooTube.
posted by sparkletone at 2:00 AM on October 28, 2006


to econous:


posted by 29 at 2:02 AM on October 28, 2006


uhhh

i meant
posted by 29 at 2:04 AM on October 28, 2006


I'm sure the marketing and legal departments will find some way to shim a diluted, dumbed-down, over-produced, committee invented analogue to their thing we once loved into our good graces at the moment our outrage has passed through dull hostility and into leaden indifference.

That logic worked for Napster.
posted by evil holiday magic at 3:58 AM on October 28, 2006


Worth noting that the Google/MTV/AdSense experiment in August doesn't seem to have been a smashing success, since Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone swooped in and fired MTV CEO Tom Freston one month later, citing MTV's poor Internet performance as the major reason.

I think Matt's got it above; unless Comedy Central has its head completely up its ass, it'll continue seeding YouTube with video clips, if for no other reason than to lure folks to its own site with the promise of more. That said, any deal that puts ads before video content is doomed to kill off any benefit to big companies. The key to viral marketing is the lack of barriers to sharing; put an ad in front of a clip and you'll watch the sharing slow down dramatically. I'd bet most folks in the business know this already; it's just a question of whether they can convince the dumbass money people to shut up and listen. Probably not.
posted by mediareport at 6:01 AM on October 28, 2006


29, fag me and move it.
posted by econous at 6:40 AM on October 28, 2006


cellphone: How is this a DMCA violation?

It's not.

dhammond: Are you serious? The fact that this is a DMCA violation is not even debatable. It's copyrighted content, posted without the permission of the rightsholder.

That's copyright infringement, not a DMCA violation. The DMCA gives service providers safe harbor from copyright infringement claims so long as they comply with takedown notices. That's how the DMCA is involved in this.
posted by schoolgirl report at 7:37 AM on October 28, 2006


evil holiday magic writes 'That logic worked for Napster.'

¿"Worked"?, really?
Not from where I'm sitting.
posted by signal at 9:15 AM on October 28, 2006


South Park too! At least you can get basically the entire TDS and CR episodes from Motherload on comedycentral.com
posted by FeldBum at 11:27 AM on October 28, 2006


i watched the South Park WoW episode off Google Video with the commercials removed.

yet Kelis' Bossy video was pulled from YouTube.

whack a mole is right. YouTube jumped the shark long ago. expect a micropayment system that only survives b/c of porn, or in-video ads.
posted by mrgrimm at 11:40 AM on October 28, 2006


¿"Worked"?, really?
Not from where I'm sitting.


i think that was sarcasm.

posted by mrgrimm at 11:41 AM on October 28, 2006


dhammond: Technically (and technically is all the lawyers care about), I don't think the sale has closed yet.

You're correct. When the Agreement and Plan of Merger was signed, Google filed an 8-K, which you can see here. The 8-K says they "expect the transaction to close in the fourth calendar quarter of 2006."

One of the things they're waiting on is U.S. Gov't antitrust approvalpursuant to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. This entails filings with the FTC and the DOJ and a statutory waiting period. It's likely they filed for early termination, but it doesn't appear it's been granted yet.
posted by psmith at 12:45 PM on October 28, 2006


I, for one, am furious that once again it has been suggested $34.95 a month for internet access does not entitle me to immediate and inherent access to all media content produced in the world since the dawn of time.

posted by XQUZYPHYR at 5:30 AM PST on October 28 [+] [!]


I'm sorta pissed that enough money means copyrights are prevented from expiring normally and making it into the public domain. Or that even one-beat audio samples are considered royalty worthy intellectual property. Meanwhile tresspasses on private citizens (Ghyslain Raza/Star Wars Kid, or that jerkoff Aleksy Vayner) are helping companies collect ad revenue. Viral videos are often public humiliations exhibited for free with no benefit to the "content creators" or the participants, but (with the proposed ad model) a financial benefit to the usual suspects: Media companies who've grown so stale and disconnected they see their financial futures in home movies of hamsters trying to fuck bran muffins.
posted by evil holiday magic at 3:40 PM on October 28, 2006 [2 favorites]


Does not appear as though they've been too successful - looking over on the highest-ranked ones of the day and there's The Daily Show
posted by MildlyDisturbed at 4:48 PM on October 28, 2006


blah, blah, blah...the only thing I am interested in is what Cory Doctorow has to say about this.
posted by Falconetti at 9:41 PM on October 28, 2006


If your lawyers are your primary means of doing business, don't be surprised if, after you nix all the free stuff, you still aren't meeting your sales/audience quotas.
posted by clevershark at 12:52 PM on October 29, 2006


Hey, anybody home? I heard it was still open around here... Helllooooooooo.....
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:34 AM on October 30, 2006


Heh. During tonight's Daily Show they ran a commercial saying:

"Missed last night's show? Now you don't have to get it one piece at a time from some crappy blog! Comedycentral.com has last night's Daily Show complete and uncut."
posted by smackfu at 9:19 PM on October 30, 2006


"Missed last night's show? Now you don't have to get it one piece at a time from some crappy blog! Comedycentral.com has last night's Daily Show complete and uncut."

*ding ding ding* we have a winner!
posted by MetaMonkey at 9:51 PM on October 30, 2006


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