Viacom's Comedy Central is the latest entertainment company to request that YouTube remove copyrighted content from the video-sharing site.

In response to Comedy Central's demand, YouTube began removing clips from shows such as "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," "The Colbert Report" and "South Park," the New York Times reports. Earlier this month, YouTube removed over 30,000 videos after receiving a similar complaint from the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers.

The benefits of such a move aren't always clear-cut. In Comedy Central's case, the sharing of the network's clips on YouTube have likely helped fuel the popularity of the network's entertainers, such as Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Colbert's mocking speech before President Bush at the White House Correspondents Dinner was one of the most viewed clips on YouTube earlier this year, before C-Span, which had broadcast the event, ordered it taken down.