Short extracts made available to UK fans

Comedy Central has struck an exclusive deal to publish clips of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on its UK website.

The digital broadcaster has signed a contract with its American sister station to put short extracts from the topical satire online.

The move comes a year after More 4 stopped airing every edition of the show in favour of the weekly Global Edition compilation, saying the daily screening were not attracting a big enough audience.

Clips so far posted on the Comedy Central website include a ‘Daily Show in 60 Seconds’, which promotes the download of full episodes from iTunes. The episodes are available the day after US transmission for £1.89 each.

Comedy Central say the new clips aim to increase traffic to its website as the 2012 American presidential election campaign hots up.

Managing director Jill Offman said: ‘The Daily Show With Jon Stewart is the first destination for insightful and satirical comment on the political scene in the US. Our launch timing is perfect as The Daily Show will be the best place to find out the latest news and comedy take on this year’s presidential election.’

Published: 5 Jan 2012