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Striking Daily Show writer finds new audience on YouTube

16 November 2007 10:23 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 3 comments

Even though Writer's Guild of America (WGA) members don't have access to the major media outlets many work for they're still finding an audience for their message on YouTube.

A video starring a striking writer for the Daily Show pokes fun at Viacom, the company which owns the Daily Show and is currently suing YouTube for $1 billion because the claim the site didn't do enough to stop piracy of their content.

In the video Daily Show writer Jason Ross presents the dispute between the WGA and studios in a satirical form familiar to the show's viewers. However, there are serious issues being raised. The central point is the disconnect between studio claims to investors, and in Viacom's case to the court, about the value of delivering their content online. It appears that when trying to fire up shareholders or sue viral video sites studios claim the property is already valued in the billions, but when it comes time to pay royalties it's worth nothing because they're operating at a loss.

Included in the video was a clip of Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone arguing that if a company filed a suit against YouTube they might "expect a deal that reflected the value of their content." His comments made no mention of factoring in the studio's current ability to turn a profit from it.

Ross lampooned Redstone saying "It's really quite simple. When you're not paying him you owe him a billion dollars. When he's not paying you - he's not paying you."

You can watch the entire video on YouTube.

Permalink to this article | Topic: Online video

Hulu lands Comedy Central's Daily Show and Colbert Report (10 June 2008)

Is it too late to avoid long term affects from WGA strike? (19 January 2008)

Directors guild starts negotiations in Hollywood (12 January 2008)

Microsoft and Viacom sign $500 million Web & TV deal (19 December 2007)

Reactive video makes viewer a part of the action (24 November 2007)

Viacom puts 13,000 Daily Show clips online (19 October 2007)

YouTube finally has their anti-piracy tools in place (15 October 2007)

Google lawyers seek testimony from comedians in YouTube case (14 August 2007)

Viacom chairman responds to Google remarks (13 July 2007)

Google CEO goes on offensive against Viacom (13 July 2007)

Viacom lawyer strikes back at Google, YouTube (17 March 2007)

YouTube clashes with media giants again (16 February 2007)

Viacom demands YouTube remove content (2 February 2007)

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Discuss this article!
Tashammer (Newbie) 16 November 2007 19:31
*Quote:* Included in the video was a clip of Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone arguing that if a company filed a suit against YouTube they might "expect a deal that reflected the value of their content." His comments made no mention of factoring in the studio's current ability to turn a profit from it. Wouldn't you say that about summarises business practice nowadays? Filing suit is just another revenue stream and you do it in case you get lucky, (or file in that place in Texas). It's big businesses' lottery ticket. i think that there is a really strong need to extirpate large corporations and replace them with lots of little mum and dad stores and cottage industries. [ + quote]
7thsinger (AfterDawn Addict) 17 November 2007 8:30
I think the writer says it best here... *Quote:* "It's really quite simple. When you're not paying him you owe him a billion dollars. When he's not paying you - he's not paying you." [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 10 December 2007 16:11
This is just political correctness gone overboard what happen to free speech its time you should be able to laugh at yourself. [ + quote]