The vast repository of content on Comedy Central‘s website — dating back 25 years — has been removed by parent company Paramount Global, in a move to push fans to Paramount+.
The site, at comedycentral.com, has until now hosted clips from all episodes of “The Daily Show” since 1999, as well as segments from the full 11-season run of Stephen Colbert’s “The Colbert Report,” among other video content. Thousands of “Daily Show” clips remain free to watch on YouTube, but those go back only to 2015.
The move to scrub content from Comedy Central comes after Paramount similarly pulled the full archive of MTV News from the internet on Monday, as well as articles from CMT.
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As of Wednesday, Comedy Central’s archived material has vanished from its website. A notice on the site says, “While episodes of most Comedy Central series are no longer available on this website, you can watch Comedy Central through your TV provider. You can also sign up for Paramount+ to watch many seasons of Comedy Central shows.”
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In a statement provided to Variety, a Paramount Global rep said, “As part of broader website changes across Paramount, we have introduced more streamlined versions of our sites, driving fans to Paramount+ to watch their favorite shows.” Company reps didn’t respond to a request to explain how the removal of the MTV News and CMT article archives furthers that goal.
While the Comedy Central site directs fans to Paramount+ to find programming, many older episodes of “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” are unavailable on the streamer, as reported by LateNighter. Also gone from comedycentral.com are clips and full episodes of series including “The Opposition With Jordan Klepper,” “The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore,” “@midnight,” hosted by Chris Hardwick, and “Lights Out With David Spade,” according to LateNighter.
Paramount Global has been in financial straits, facing declining revenue in its traditional TV business as Paramount+ — while growing rapidly — remains in the red. After M&A talks with Skydance Media collapsed earlier this month, Paramount Global’s three co-CEOs outlined a strategy of job cuts, potential asset sales to pay off debt, and a possible joint venture for its streaming business.