Comedy Central blocked my ZDTV video from YouTube

by David Spark on November 2, 2006

On Sunday, Viacom demanded that all Comedy Central content be pulled from YouTube. By Wednesday, the two companies reached an agreement and Viacom reversed their decision.

Ironically, on Wednesday I received a threatening email from YouTube telling me I had infringed Comedy Central’s copyright. And as a result they have disabled access to an uploaded video.

Problem is I didn’t upload a video from Comedy Central. I uploaded a video I produced on ZDTV, a former cable network about technology and the Internet. It was though a news segment about The Daily Show’s online coverage of the Presidential election.

Therefore, Comedy Central has no rights to the content whatsoever.

But it appears they pulled my segment because I used the words “The Daily Show” in my description. I have responded to YouTube hoping they’ll see this as an honest mistake.

With a staff of 65, who knows when YouTube will get around if ever to reading my email.

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