After removing the MTV News site and all its archives this week, Paramount has done nearly the same to its Comedy Central, CMT, TV Land, MTV (the main site), and Paramount Network sites.
What had been a treasure trove, an archive of clips and old episodes reaching back two decades, is now gone.
In its place is a pop-up window that urges you to subscribe to the Paramount+ streaming service or order cable TV :
A pop-up window on the Comedy Central site reads, “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.”
…
Paramount said in a statement, “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.”
You get the same at MTV.com:
While episodes of most MTV series are no longer available on this website, you can watch MTV through your TV provider. You can also sign up for Paramount+ to watch many seasons of MTV shows.
And ParamountNetwork.com:
While episodes of most Paramount Network series are no longer available on this website, you can watch Paramount Network through your TV provider. You can also sign up for Paramount+ to watch many seasons of Paramount Network shows.
And CMT.com:
While episodes of most CMT series are no longer available on this website, you can watch CMT through your TV provider. You can also sign up for Paramount+ to watch many seasons of CMT shows.
And TVLand.com:
While episodes of most TV Land series are no longer available on this website, you can watch TV Land through your TV provider. You can also sign up for Paramount+ to watch many seasons of TV Land shows.
But here’s the thing that should freak people out…
“ComedyCentral.com had been home to clips from every episode of The Daily Show since 1999, and the entire run of The Colbert Report,” reports one upset outlet, “but as of Wednesday morning, the site is gone.”
“Unfortunately for those in search of older episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, neither can be found on Paramount+,” Latenighter continued.
You see what’s going on here?
Most of the archives and content, thousands and thousands of hours of programming, did not migrate over to Paramount+. Instead…
It just disappeared.
It’s gone.
Unless you purchased or downloaded your own copies, it’s all gone.
Now, I don’t care because I don’t watch any of that crap, and I already own hard copies of the movies and TV shows I care about. My point is this…
This is what happens when you give a left-wing, multinational corporation control over your content. They will not only screw you, they will do so without any notice. I hate The Daily Show and could not care less about it disappearing. Nevertheless, I empathize with those who are now wishing they had kept their own archives.
Additionally, this content might never return. Obviously, these sites have been purged for two reasons: 1) to decrease what must have been massive hosting costs, and 2) to encourage people to subscribe to Paramount+. Still, Paramount has no incentive to drop decades of old TV shows into Paramount+. Hardly anyone will ever watch a 2002 episode of The Daily Show, certainly not enough people to justify the cost of hosting all that content or to pay for the bookkeeping involved to track residuals and copyrights.
Nope, in this day and age, if you love a movie or TV show, you have to keep your own personal copy. I don’t even want to know what I’ve spent over the last five years on Blu-rays since I figured out there was zero security in streaming, but it was worth it.
No one can censor or delete your hard copies.
Blu-ray collection (iStock/Getty Images Plus)
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
