Hulu bids adieu to ‘Daily Show’ and ‘Colbert Report’ no thanks to Viacom

It’s a sad day for die-hard Hulu users as Viacom and Comedy central have decided to pull two of its most popular shows off of the video streaming website. The Daily Show, which is the third most-watched program on Hulu, and The Colbert Report will no longer be available on the site. Although all parties involved are said to be splitting up amicably, it might be a bad sign for the future of television on sites like Hulu.

Things are rosy for ABC, NBC and Fox, but they all own a stake in Hulu whereas Viacom does not. An anonymous source involved with talks in doing business with Hulu said, “We tried to reach a deal; we got close; we continued to talk even over the weekend. But we could not agree on a price.” How unfortunate for the users.

If it’s any consolation to those of you who watch the shows online because you don’t own a TV or have cable, the shows will continue to stream at TheDailyShow.com and ColbertNation.com. However, video quality and the experience might not be as great as what we’ve come to like at Hulu.

We’re hoping a trend like this doesn’t continue. If this trickles down to TV/video services for cell phones, Flash Player for mobile would seem far less important and exciting. Fingers crossed that it never has to come to that.

NYT via Business Insider