Comedy Central launches CC: Stand-Up app for Xbox

Who says comedy doesn’t travel?

Comedy Central is taking the best of its televised stand-up shows, from such notable comedians as Aziz Ansari, Patton Oswalt and Hannibal Buress, and making the best bits available through Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console.

Its CC: Stand-Up app features clips of past stand-up performances, which are programmed so the comedy routines can be viewed in a continuous stream -- just like any other TV channel. Viewers also can choose to watch one of the themed playlists, search for routines of a favorite comedian or pick selections from a recent special.

“For Xbox in particular, we’ve spent a lot of time and effort to go back into our library ... and figuring out the best way to present this content,” said Ben Hurst, vice president of mobile and emerging platforms for Comedy Central’s corporate parent Viacom. “We didn’t just take clips from the archives, as currently exists. We thought about what’s the best clip length? What’s the best way to present [the performances]?”

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CC: Stand-Up will be available to Xbox Live Gold subscribers, who pay $5 a month to play against other gamers online, watch high-definition movies and TV shows, and access such entertainment services as Netflix.

The game console affords networks like Comedy Central a new way to monetize their video libraries in a way that doesn’t threaten lucrative existing business arrangements with cable and satellite TV distributors. In the case of Comedy Central, it can tap into an archive of more than 6,000 videos from more than 700 comedians.

“It really goes back to our legacy and our overall history with stand-up in general,” said Hurst. “We launched with stand-up in 1991. It goes back our beginnings. We have amassed this huge library of stand-up. We felt it was a great opportunity to re-imagine how we bring that content to our fans.”

The digital channel can also serve as a marketing vehicle, to drive viewers to an upcoming stand-up special on Comedy Central.

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