Hulu to lose Daily Show, Colbert Report after failing to secure further rights from Viacom

Daily Show, Colbert Report to be removed from Hulu

LOS ANGELES — Video streaming site Hulu is saying goodbye to The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, two popular shows from Comedy Central that will no longer be streamed on the site after next week.

Hulu said Tuesday it was unable to secure extended rights for shows from Comedy Central, which is owned by Viacom Inc.

The site shares ad revenue with companies that provide video content. Viacom will be now be able to keep all of the advertising revenue by hosting the shows on its own Web sites.

In a blog post, Hulu’s senior vice president of content and distribution, Andy Forssell, said the shows had generated a lot of views and ad revenue over the past 21 months.

“After a series of discussions with the team at Comedy Central, though, we ultimately were unable to secure the rights to extend these shows for a much longer period of time,” he said. The shows will stop being shown on Hulu starting at 11:59 p.m. PST on March 9.

Viacom said in a statement that Hulu was one of the many partners the company has worked with to add outlets for its content.

“We had a great experience with Hulu, and we hope to work with its team again in the future,” it said.

Full episodes of The Colbert Report and The Daily Show will still be available on Viacom-owned sites such as www.comedycentral.com, www.colbertnation.com, and www.thedailyshow.com.

Hulu is jointly owned by News Corp., NBC Universal, The Walt Disney Co. and Providence Equity Partners.