Xbox Live Marketplace To Begin Offering Stewart, Colbert

Beginning April 17, Microsoft will begin releasing episodes of the Comedy Central programs The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report over the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Each episode will be available for 160 Microsoft Points, a retail value of $2.00. Microsoft has stated that it plans to release new episodes within 24 hours of their first airing.

While the Marketplace already offers a decent amount of video content, including full-length movies and episodes from other television series, the two new shows are expected to add considerably to the popularity of the service.

The Xbox Live Marketplace pricing is comparable to that of the iTunes service, which offers regular episodes of both shows at $1.99 each. The iTunes system, however, offers a "multi-pass" option, allowing the download of all 16 monthly episodes for $9.99, a program not currently available through Xbox Live.

Microsoft's Larry Hryb wrote in his blog, "Props to the VMP team for staying up REAL late to make this happen. This means that if you miss the airing from the previous night or forgot to set the DVR you can just head over to the VMP and grab the complete shows."