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Canadians: No "Daily Show" for you

Mathew Ingram, October 25, 2007 at 10:52 AM EDT

If you like satire and you don't mind staying up late, you're probably a fan of The Daily Show, that great showcase for the satirical jabs of Jon Stewart. If that's the case, you might have been overjoyed to hear that Comedy Central (which is part of MTV, which in turn is part of Viacom) recently launched a website with 13,000 or so clips from the show, including some of the most-loved episodes from the early days.

Finally, you may have thought to yourself -- after months of fighting with YouTube over clips from the show (which routinely appear and then are quickly removed), Viacom has decided that giving viewers what they want over the Internet is the right way to go. Bravo.

The only problem with that rosy little scenario is that Viacom's largesse -- like every other U.S. TV network that has decided to stream popular shows from their website -- is completely unavailable to Canadian viewers (and to viewers in other countries as well). You can go to the website and click on a video, but you don't get anything. To add insult to injury, the pre-roll advertising spot that Viacom has sold for the clip plays just fine, but is followed by a black screen -- a screen that might as well say "Hey non-U.S. viewers -- look at all the stuff you can't watch."

Why can't you watch The Daily Show clips? The same reason you can't watch an episode of Heroes on the website the day after it plays on TV, and the same reason you can't download TV episodes from iTunes: Canadian networks like Global and CTV have paid for the right to broadcast those shows, and would no doubt raise a hue and cry if they were suddenly available for free on the Internet. That might destabilize the entire Canadian broadcasting business model, which relies on access to U.S. hits.

Update: On a more recent visit to The Daily Show website, I was automatically redirected to thecomedynetwork.ca, which carries episodes of the Comedy Central show in Canada (after a pseudo-friendly message popped up saying how "some jerk blocked ComedyCentral.com" and that this was a "load of crap," but that clicking on the link would take you to The Comedy Network for all your favourites "and a whole whack of homegrown hilarity"). You can watch some recent episodes of The Daily Show at the Canadian site, but there is only a small selection, in contrast to the complete show archive that is available at the U.S. site.

  1. Ian St. John from Canada writes: I have a suggestion. Get a PVR and record your own library. It's on Rogers on channel 8 (CTV) four nights a week at 12:05 am.

    So the headline is a bit deceptive unless they are dropping the show over cable as well.
  2. Chris A. from London, Ontario, Canada writes: This bites hard! The fact that Canada is the only country to broadcast the Daily Show over the air on a network broadcaster should speak volumns about the popularity of the show north of the border. Something better get done to rectify this blindsised shot. Are you going to fix this Comedy Network? Hmmmmm???!!!
  3. David Rotor from Canada writes: Use a proxy server in the US ...
  4. Kevin Kimmis from Edmonton, Canada writes: Help me out, Mr. Ingram -- you need to do some more investigating of this. I would have to guess that the "jerk" blocking Canadians from accessing the Daily Show's own website is, in fact, CTV and the Comedy Network. I'm betting the reason they're doing it is to boost hits to their own site and, in doing so, the revenues they derive therefrom.

    Doing it is one thing; running a page that suggests they're not the ones doing it -- and for their own benefit -- is (as they say) "full of crap". Call them on this -- on the phone, by email or otherwise -- and see how they respond.
  5. D P from Canada writes: David Rotor has it right; a nice simple proxy server solves all these sorts of problems along with many security issues. I use "Secure Tunnel" - worth every penny.
  6. Ric Hard from Toronto, Canada writes: Why wouldn't the rights holder in Canada provide the service?

    The lack of iTune options seems very strange to me since we are paying for it and Apple has a good way of getting money.

    Why no iTunes when you are getting paid for the show? It just doesn't make sense to me that Canadian business interests are forgoing this source of revenue.
  7. Scott Henderson from Toronto, writes: Before everyone gets in a tizzy here, read the update. The Daily Show is completely available to Canadians - for free - on TheComedyNetwork.ca. Shows are not archived because this service only became available on Oct. 17. Chill people.
  8. andy c from Canada writes: simply the best hour on TV. The Daily Show followed by the Colbert Report
  9. Adebisi TheGamer from Canada writes: Yep, US based proxy or anonymizer service solves all this BS restriction problems.

    I would also point out that this is another fine example of how Globalization strictly benefits Corporations and completely screws consumers.

    Buy Valve's latest game, legit, from an overseas source? They ban you from playing. Try to watch a US show, on a US website, on an internet connection you rent? No dice.

    Lets all stop buying into this globalization illusion.
  10. C R from Sackville, Canada writes: i have not run into any redirect problems by going directly to
    www.thedailyshow.com
    hopefully no one in the know will find out

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