Hulu and Viacom announced Wednesday night that they have reached a deal to return Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" to Hulu, effective February 2.
Starting today, full episodes of the "Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" will be available via the free Hulu.com and the subscription-based Hulu Plus.
Viacom has also agreed to let Hulu Plus subscribers access shows like "Jersey Shore," Tosh.o," "Teen Mom 2," "Manswers," "Let's Stay Together," and "Hot in Cleveland" 21 days after they air on TV. Hulu Plus users will also be able to view about 2,000 episodes of older Viacom content like "The Chappelle Show," "Reno 911," "Beavis & Butthead," "Real World," "Punk'd," and "Baldwin Hills."
Viacom's Comedy Central pulled the "Daily Show" and the "Colbert Report" from Hulu in March 2010 after the Hulu failed to secure the rights to extend the shows for a much longer period of time, Hulu said at the time. The shows remained online at their own sites, TheDailyShow.com and ColbertNation.com.
In a blog post about the Viacom deal, Hulu chief executive Jason Kilar said he was "extremely happy" the shows were returning. He also took the opportunity to discuss the future of TV, one that he said will - for the near future - still involve a free- and subscription-based version of Hulu.
Hulu Plus, which made its debut in June, will pass 1 million subscribers this year, Kilar wrote. The company also expects the service to bring in more than $200 million in revenue by the fall.
"A key element of Hulu Plus is that we are able to compensate content owners more per-user per-month than anyone else for the same body of content," Kilar wrote. "We are able to do this because of the subscription fee, our unusually effective and market-leading advertising service, and our tolerance for thin margins."
That being said, "we expect the free Hulu service to be a core part of our business for years to come, and one that will continue to earn the enthusiasm from our users," Kilar said. "The stronger the returns we can drive in our free, ad-supported service, the more content will show up in that service."
In talking to consumers, Kilar said Hulu has found three things to be true: traditional TV has too many ads; consumers want TV to be convenient and do not want to be told what time to tune in; and consumers are the greatest marketing force thanks to the power of social media.
"We believe the wise move is to find ways to exploit these new trends and leverage them to build great businesses," Kilar wrote. "History has shown that incumbents tend to fight trends that challenge established ways and, in the process, lose focus on what matters most: customers. Hulu is not burdened by that legacy."
Hulu acknowledged that it is trying to reinvent TV and compete against telecom giants like cable companies, satellite companies, and huge online companies.
"We are crazy. All entrepreneurs need to be. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it and there would be no naysayers," Kilar said.
Last week, reports emerged that said Hulu's management and backers were in discussions to turn Hulu into an online cable channel, with subscriptions offering live and on-demand access to bundles of channels.