Ah yes, that'll almost certainly be the Paramount Comedy Channel. It's not strictly Paramount proper - and certainly not Paramount Pictures - but is Viacom's comedy channel, simply using the Paramount name, 50% owned by Sky (Murdoch). Said channel is now branded Comedy Central.
Quote: Ben @ 8th November 2013, 9:47 PM GMTI'd like to hear from Tony Cowards on how the landscape has changed. TONNNNNNNNNNNNNNYYYYYYYYYYY!
Hello Ben, well I would say that the current comedy boom started when TV realised that the best use of stand ups on TV was to get them to do stand up.
It sounds obvious but previously TV had struggled to put stand ups into sitcoms or other unsuited formats, I don't think TV people trusted stand ups to do stand up in case they went "off script" and said something controversial.
The original "Live at the Apollo" fronted, I think, by Jack Dee, started the current trend of showing 3 or 4 comics doing 7-10 minute TV friendly sets in a "show", a format which, of course, was then taken on to great success by Michael McIntyre.
The other thing which has helped the boom in comedy is that stand up and stand up comedians are relatively cheap, certainly stand up and panel shows are very inexpensive compared to other forms of TV entertainment. Plus stand ups are a self-contained package, unlike actors they don't need someone to write a script for them, which I'm sure is why almost every advert on TV now seems to feature a comedian or three (cheaper and more versatile than actors).
Of course, this has all had a trickle down effect with more people going to comedy clubs to see people they've seen and liked on TV.
On the negative side though this boom has lead to more people wanted to do stand up, which has lead to a surplus of comedians at the lower levels of the circuit and a glut of relatively poor quality comedy nights, especially in the big cities.
In 30 years stand up has gone from being "underground" to being massively mainstream, although like the music scene it's fragmented into various genres and niche markets so that nowadays to talk about "stand up comedy" as one big amorphous entity is almost pointless.
Thanks, Tony. It's not a surprise that saving a bob or two has contributed to the commissioners decisions.
Q:What kickstarted the current comedy 'boom'?
A: The awful economy? 
I mean people suddenly may have realised that in the face of despair and daily struggle, a laugh is always the best medicine. I dunno. Personally, it's better to go sky diving, but that could just be the impetus comedy has needed all this while.