The former host of the Daily Show will be joining HBO, with early work including digital short projects that should appear on HBO apps.
Jon Stewart, former host of the Daily Show, has signed an exclusive four-year production contract with cable channel HBO, who announced the deal on Tuesday. Early projects will be digital shorts of two to five minutes each. An HBO statement said that the format will allow Stewart to “view current events through his unique prism.”
Stewart says he is excited to be working with the “HBO family.” He says he was clearly broken by appearing on television for 22 minutes a night, but he feels sure he can produce “a few minutes of content every now and then.” He may also pursue television or movie projects with HBO.
That content is expected to appear on HBO’s apps such as HBO Now and HBO Go. The upcoming digital shorts will be focused on current events and will be able to refresh on the HBO Now app throughout the day. Stewart will not be appearing on camera, but viewers will hear his voice.
Shares of Time Warner, owner of HBO, rose 2 percent during midday trading following the news that Stewart would be joining HBO. Contracting with the former host demonstrates the importance that HBO and other traditional cable companies are beginning to place on online expansion.
HBO Now was launched earlier this year. The standalone streaming service is intended for those who do not want to subscribe to the cable channel. CEO Jeff Bewkes used it as an example in Time Warner’s last earning results of how the company is “investing aggressively” to position itself “for continued growth.
Stewart began hosting the Daily Show in 1999, stepping down from the position three months ago. He will be joining a former colleague on HBO, Daily Show correspondent John Oliver. Oliver is host of the weekly news program Last Week Tonight.
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