The network is launching a revamped version of its online programming platform, MotherLoad, this month with a new syndicated video player at its heart, the network said Wednesday.

MotherLoad will be integrated deeper into Comedy-Central.com while offering a syndication capability allowing users to grab and embed their favorite clips for posting on their own Web pages. The new video player is part of a makeover of the channel’s Web site.

The site also will use a Flash video format and is designed to be more user-compatible on Macs and older PCs and for users with pop-up blockers.

Last week, the company asked YouTube to pull many copyrighted clips of The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and other Comedy Central properties, and many of them were taken down. Numerous short clips did remain available on the site, fueling speculation that Viacom was only concerned about longer clips.

YouTube fans responded immediately… using YouTube. One man posted a two-minute clip called “Why did Comedy Central assert copyrights now?” in which he wondered why Comedy Central had waited so long to act, and why they had chosen to do so now.

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I watched a few videos with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report yesterday on Google Video so I’m guessing they haven’t been asked to remove anything just yet, but Comedy Central wants you to visit their site to view the shows, instead of the sites that are most popular for video viewing.

The site, Comedy Central, is offering the clips for free, just like YouTube did with an advertisement just to the side of the video. YouTube claims that they don’t control the content on the site, that the users post the content and they will promptly remove the clips as they find them, but it sounds like they are doing a little shifting on that position since many of the clips still remain.

YouTube did say that it would allow suing people who post videos on the site for copyright violations by providing the copyright owners with user identification if needed for cases, but only with a subpoena, of course. In fact, Robert Tur was one case, with his footage of the LA riots, that YouTube complied in this manner.

I have a feeling once lawsuits and threats come into YouTube, Google, the new owners, will limit the content so much that many will turn to other sources. I know, in most cases, I go directly to the sites that offer the videos/shows (NBC and other networks offer free viewing, just no downloads, of shows) to watch. Where do you go? Do you feel YouTube will get enough copyright issues in their hands that they will crack down on the content submissions?

For a long time, Comedy Central has passively allowed the sharing of online clips of its shows—because let’s face it, it’s helped them generate the kind of water cooler talk that has made them a ton of money. In this Wired Interview , Jon Stewart and Daily Show Executive Producer even encouraged viewers to watch the show on the Internet:

Karlin: If people want to take the show in various forms, I’d say go. But when you’re a part of something successful and meaningful, the rule book says don’t try to analyze it too much or dissect it. You shouldn’t say: “I really want to know what fans think. I really want to understand how people are digesting our show.” Because that is one of those things that you truly have no control over. The one thing that you have control over is the content of the show. But how people are reacting to it, how it’s being shared, how it’s being discussed, all that other stuff, is absolutely beyond your ability to control.

Stewart: I’m surprised people don’t have cables coming out of their asses, because that’s going to be a new thing. You’re just going to get it directly fed into you. I look at systems like the Internet as a convenience. I look at it as the same as cable or anything else. Everything is geared toward more individualized consumption. Getting it off the Internet is no different than getting it off TV.