; 25 years ago 1991 06 01 owned by viacom media networks viacom picture format 1080i hdtv 480i sdtv country united states language english broadcast area international headquarters 345 hudson street new york city new york formerly called ctv the comedy network april 1 1991 may 31 1991 replaced the comedy channel ha channel was a merger of the two formerly separate services website cc.com availability satellite directv 249 hd sd 1249 vod dish network 107 hd sd cable available on most other cable providers check local listings for channel numbers iptv verizon fios 690 hd 190 sd at & t u verse 1140 hd 140 sd streaming media sling tv internet protocol television playstation vue internet protocol television comedy central is an american basic cable and satellite television channel owned by viacom music and entertainment group a unit of the viacom media networks division of viacom . the channel carries comedy programming in the form of both original and syndicated series and stand up comedy specials as well as feature films . since early 2000s comedy central has expanded globally with localized channels in germany czech republic hungary israel italy latin america new zealand the netherlands norway poland spain sweden denmark republic of ireland united kingdom india brazil 1 albania bosnia and herzegovina bulgaria belgium croatia romania macedonia montenegro philippines serbia slovenia 2 middle east and africa . 3 the international channels are operated by viacom international media networks . as of february 2015 approximately 93 992 000 american households 80.70 % of households with television receive comedy central . 4 contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1989 1991 1.2 1991 97 1.3 1997 99 1.4 2000 03 1.4.1 the secret stash 1.5 2004 06 1.6 2007 2010 1.7 2011 present 2 high definition channels and service 3 programming 4 international 5 criticism 6 references 7 external links history edit early years 1989 1991 edit on november 15 1989 time warner owners of hbo launched the comedy channel as the first cable channel devoted exclusively to comedy based programming . on april 1 1990 viacom who owned mtv vh1 and nickelodeon launched a rival channel called ha 5 that featured reruns of situation comedies and some original sketch comedy . the comedy channel s programs were broadcast from the hbo downtown studios at 120 east 23rd street in manhattan . the format prior to the merger with ha included several original and unconventional programs such as onion world with rich hall and mystery science theater 3000 as well as laid back variety talk shows hosted by comedians including the sweet life with rachel sweet night after night with allan havey sports monster and the higgins boys and gruber the latter of whom performed sketches in between showings of vintage television series like supercar clutch cargo and lancelot link secret chimp . the standard format for the comedy channel s shows usually involved the various hosts introducing clips culled from the acts of stand up comedians as well as classic comedies of the 1970s and 1980s such as young frankenstein and kentucky fried movie presented in a style similar to music videos . in the early days certain hours of the day when clips were shown without host segments were dubbed short attention span theater . in 1990 hosts under this title jon stewart and patty rosborough were introduced . comedian marc maron also hosted the series . while the comedy channel broadcast mostly low budget original programming 6 ha s schedule featured sitcom and sketch comedy reruns many of which had been previously licensed for sister network nick at nite as well as complete 90 minute reruns of saturday night live from the sixth through 16th seasons . after two years of limited distribution the two channels merged into one relaunching on april 1 1991 as ctv the comedy network ; it later changed its name to comedy central on june 1 1991 7 to prevent issues with the canadian broadcast television network ctv which would eventually be its canadian content partner through the comedy network six years later . 8 viacom bought out time warner s half in april 2003 for 1.23 billion . 9 despite hbo s exit from the venture the viacom media networks division in charge of comedy central is still called comedy partners currently being a partnership of viacom international the operating subsidiary of viacom of which viacom media networks is a division and viacom hearty ha ha llc the subsidiary that owned ha and viacom s original half of the network . 10 1991 97 edit the original comedy central logo used from 1991 2000 . an earlier variant of this logo has the comedy central text bigger almost taking up the marquee sign ; that variant lasted until 1995 . from the late 1980s through the mid 1990s much of the programming on comedy central and its predecessors consisted of comedy films sitcom reruns half hour specials and clip shows featuring comedians . with the exception of the cult favorite mystery science theater 3000 the channel had a relatively small viewership . a notable early success was politically incorrect with bill maher which after showing promise on comedy central was quickly snapped up by abc . additionally the daily show had got its start with original host craig kilborn although it would take a few more years for the show to reach high popularity and a shift toward a focus on political humor with the introduction of jon stewart who was former co host of short attention span theater from 1991 . dr. katz professional therapist was also a notable original program from this era as well as the game show win ben stein s money . successful non original programming included canadian comedy group the kids in the hall and british shows such as the u.k. edition of whose line is it anyway the predecessor of the u.s. version featuring much of the same american cast as would later be seen in the u.s. and the sitcom absolutely fabulous . some later seasons of abfab as it was informally known were partially financed by comedy central . comedy central also had the national rights to broadcast reruns of seattle s almost live between 1992 and 1993 . 1997 99 edit the channel made a breakthrough when south park premiered in 1997 . being the first major basic cable show to carry the tv ma rating for mature audiences the show was too controversial to be picked up by a mainstream network . 11 as word of mouth spread the number of people who requested that comedy central be added to their cable providers increased and the channel became available in over 50 % of american homes by 1998 . 2000 03 edit the network s second logo used from 2000 2010 . it was used in the united kingdom until 2012 . in october 2000 comedy central modernized its globe logo by straightening the buildings and removing the transmitter . the management of the network said that the transmitter of the 1991 logo was said to communicate the 1950s broadcast era . in 2002 comedy central records was formed as a means of releasing albums by comedians that have appeared on the network . 12 since 2003 comedy central has created a tradition of roasting comedians in the style of the new york friars club roasts . during these roasts friends of the roastee along with other comedians take turns making fun of the roastee the other roasters and occasionally audience members . so far the roastees have included denis leary 13 jeff foxworthy 14 pamela anderson 15 william shatner 16 flavor flav 17 bob saget 18 larry the cable guy 19 joan rivers rob reiner david hasselhoff 20 donald trump charlie sheen roseanne barr james franco justin bieber and rob lowe . the secret stash edit the success of south park despite its mature content encouraged the network to continue to push the limits on adult language . every saturday and sunday morning at 1 a.m. et a movie comedy special or animated program is shown unedited for language as part of a block called the secret stash . it premiered on july 4 2003 with the unedited cable television debut of south park bigger longer & uncut . though no language is censored on the secret stash most nudity in the programs is still edited out with the exception of limited nudity allowed in animated programs such as drawn together and rear nudity . 2004 06 edit in late 2004 it was reported that the four highest rated shows on comedy central were in descending order south park chappelle s show the daily show and reno 911 . shortly thereafter dave chappelle backed out of the much anticipated third season of chappelle s show . 21 meanwhile the daily show continued to climb in the ratings . in october 2005 on the occasion of a new three year contract for south park and the launch of daily show spin off the colbert report it was reported that south park and the daily show were the two highest rated shows on comedy central . comedy central chief doug herzog was reported as saying that he hoped to continue to air new seasons of south park forever and that the colbert report fulfilled a long held plan to extend the daily show brand . on april 5 2006 in a controversial two part episode arc titled cartoon wars part i and cartoon wars part ii south park touched the issue of the recent protest over the danish cartoon drawings depicting the muslim prophet muhammad . the image of muhammad did not appear in the episode . the episode also mocked fellow cartoon family guy . on april 13 2006 comedy central issued a statement 22 which appears to confirm that the network prohibited the show s creators from airing an image of muhammad . the statement reads in light of recent world events we feel we made the right decision . an anonymous source close to the show indicated citation needed that south park creators trey parker and matt stone were informed of the policy several weeks earlier and wrote this story arc in protest . this was a change of policy for comedy central having allowed south park to portray an image of muhammad in an earlier episode super best friends . oddly enough an image of muhammad was still briefly visible in the opening credits of the cartoon wars episodes the image had been there as a call back to super best friends . 2007 2010 edit on january 15 2007 mtv networks international launched comedy central in germany which is available for free throughout europe . the channel airs 33 shows either dubbed in german or subtitled while also airing locally produced shows . 23 on april 30 dutch channel the box was relaunched as the dutch version of comedy central during the primetime and overnight hours timesharing with nickelodeon . 24 on may 1 2007 comedy central expanded to italy replacing paramount comedy . 25 on june 27 2007 ctvglobemedia owned networks ctv and the comedy network obtained the exclusive canadian rights to the entire comedy central library of past and current programs on all electronic platforms under a multi year agreement with viacom expanding on past programming agreements between the two channels . canadian users attempting to visit comedy central websites were redirected to the comedy network s website . the canadian channel retains its own brand name but the agreement is otherwise very similar to the earlier ctv viacom deal for mtv in canada . 26 as of 2011 this geocaching no longer applies and both the comedy central and the comedy network websites can be accessed worldwide with the exception of videos which remain only accessible within each respective country . in december 2007 comedy central picked up a show hosted by lewis black