Comments on: You Can’t Watch SNL’s Hilarious “Downton Abbey” Sketch Legally Online, So NBCUniversal Pirates Itself

By: hiram

hiram — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:24:19 +0000

they have it on perez hilton right now but the quality isn’t the best.

By: Joshua

Joshua — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:56:43 +0000

Did you see this from msnbc?
http://todayentertainment.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/05/10325372-downton-abbey-gets-the-spiketv-treatment-on-snl

“Sorry! NBC Universal has blocked the YouTube clip that showed the “SNL” skit. If it shows up anywhere else online, we’ll get it back up here. Otherwise, you’ll have to go back to your DVRs.”

By: angela

angela — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:58:01 +0000

FYI: I watched the West Coast feed and was able to see the Downton Abbey skit. I have Time/Warner and was able to record the full episode. I just watched it. The Downton Abbey video was the best part of the show. Such a shame that it can’t be shared.

By: LilTornado

LilTornado — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:07:12 +0000

And…. now the link you posted at the bottom of your article is BLOCKED by NBC Universal as copyrighted. 6 pm CST on 2-7-10.

By: Dee

Dee — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:44:19 +0000

Sorry Jo, but anyone who “writes for” Time or iVillage surely knows that they have to submit their material thru some sort of chain of command – and they would also surely know that there are countless restrictions on copyrighted material owned by NBC. They would also know that Hulu is the authorized displayer of NBC content. One would also think that there is a “boss” of editorial content on these sites that monitors what a hired blogger is writing and/or posting up there. If not, Danny Sullivan’s point is extremely well taken.

While Time (a div of Time Warner) certainly knows better, they aren’t connected to NBC. iVillage on the other hand is indeed owned by the same mother ship, NBC Unniversal and this is a prime example of one division directly undermining another.

By: Jo

Jo — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:35:32 +0000

This moment in failure really isn’t as impressive as the post makes it seem. Bloggers who write for Time and iVillage looked for a video of the skit to embed and found one on YouTube. They probably weren’t aware of any rights restrictions and most likely didn’t even think about it.

It’s a stupid oversight, no doubt, but not as grand as the post implies, as if NBC as a company went and spilled egg on its own face.

By: Dee

Dee — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:32:20 +0000

Thanks so much for this diatribe. I was super frustrated at looking for it myself (and couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t find it in the Hulu full episode.) Now I get it.

As an entertainment exec, I can surmise that there must have been a legal stop put on this which would be why it was pulled from the West Coast feed after making it on the LIVE East Coast feed. And explaining why its not available anywhere.

Either an issue with Spike TV or more likely with BBC UK & the owners of the Masterpiece Theatre content, which is licensed to PBS in America for only a specific run. Andy Samberg grabbing the content and using it without permission likely made the legal suits freak when it went live and they pulled it from everything else.

Ahhh a benefit to living on the East Coast and modern technology which allows some of us to still see it

By: Janet Shingleton

Janet Shingleton — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:56:09 +0000

Thanks for taking the time to detail all of this because I was getting frustrated looking for it. I’d love to know NBC/Universal’s “reasoning” behind all this, if there *is* any. Don’t they know it comes back to hurt their image in the long run? If so, they don’t appear to care.

By: Meg Geddes

Meg Geddes — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:59:17 +0000

Up until this week, SNL episodes were available in full on the Xfinity (Comcast) site. This week, the show disappeared from the lineup under NBC. However, if you use the search box, you can get to the Channing Tatum (is that his name?) episode and watch it. EXCEPT that it’s 58 minutes long, including commercials. SNL is a 90 minute show, so it looks like they cut out a lot more than that sketch.

Very odd.