Netflix to Lose No. 1 Show 'The Office' to Comcast in 2021 -- Update
June 25 2019 - 8:45PM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Flint
Netflix Inc. will lose its No. 1 show, "The Office," in 2021
when reruns of the hit sitcom move to a new streaming service being
launched by Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal, the latest sign of
competition over top programming among Hollywood's titans.
Terms of the five-year deal weren't disclosed. People familiar
with the matter said it is valued at around $500 million. Netflix
had paid $100 million for its current multiyear deal.
In a statement on Twitter, Netflix said: "We're sad that NBC has
decided to take The Office back for its own streaming platform --
but members can binge watch the show to their hearts' content
ad-free on Netflix until January 2021."
NBCUniversal's TV studio produced "The Office," which ended its
nine-season run on the NBC network in 2013, and licensed reruns to
Netflix, where it has been the No. 1 show for several years,
accounting for 52 billion viewing minutes in 2018.
The deal is between two divisions inside NBCUniversal -- its
streaming unit is acquiring the rights from the Universal TV
studio. Still, the show was shopped to other streaming services
besides Netflix, including one AT&T Inc.'s WarnerMedia plans to
launch later this year and Walt Disney Co.'s Hulu, people involved
in sales process said.
The creators of "The Office" will get a share of profits from
the new deal, as they did under the Netflix pact.
Reruns have been critical to the success of Netflix. Though
Netflix has touted its production of originals like "Stranger
Things" and "The Crown, " non-original "library programming" made
up 72% of the minutes people spent watching Netflix in the U.S. as
of October 2018, according to Nielsen data. Netflix discounts
third-party research.
Other popular reruns on Netflix could also leave the platform in
the coming years as NBCUniversal and other media companies,
including Disney and WarnerMedia, launch their own streaming
services and look to bring back hit shows to their platforms. Those
three companies account for content that made up nearly 40% of the
viewing minutes on Netflix, according to the Nielsen data.
Another hit rerun on Netflix, the comedy "Friends," could leave
the service at the end of this year and move to the WarnerMedia
streaming platform. WarnerMedia's Warner Bros. studio produced
"Friends."
Set in Scranton, Pa., "The Office" follows a hapless group of
paper salesmen and women and their bumbling boss. Based on the
British sitcom of the same name, the show's format was brought to
the U.S. by Ben Silverman, who was an executive producer of the
show and then went on to become president of NBC Entertainment.
Although Netflix made an offer to keep "The Office," internally
the consensus was that the program was likely to end up on the
NBCUniversal service, a person close to the company said. Netflix
has been boosting its spending on original programming over the
Past several years in anticipation of losing acquired content to
rivals.
While "The Office" will be gone from Netflix in January of 2021,
the show's star, Steve Carell, will be back on the platform in
"Space Force, " an original comedy whose creator is Greg Daniels, a
longtime executive producer of "The Office."
NBCUniversal's streaming service will be ad-supported and is set
to launch in 2020. It will be available for free to people who have
an existing pay-TV subscription and available to others for a fee.
It will feature the company's popular TV and movie franchises as
well as original content and programming licensed from others.
"'The Office' has become a staple of pop-culture and is a rare
gem whose relevance continues to grow at a time when fans have more
entertainment choices than ever before," said Bonnie Hammer,
chairman of NBCUniversal Direct-to-Consumer and Digital
Enterprises, in a statement.
Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 25, 2019 20:30 ET (00:30 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024