NBCUniversal announced that it will be removing its iconic comedic show, The Office, from Netflix when their deal ends at the start of 2021. The show will be one of the many NBC hits that will be heading the company’s own media streaming service.
According to sources for The Hollywood Reporter, NBC’s streaming service, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and probably Apple all took meetings to try and gain the streaming rights to the hit show. “Producers Universal Television held an auction — which insiders say kept the studio at a distance from all buyers as it sought to get a fair price for profit participants (including creator Greg Daniels). Ultimately, NBCU’s offer of $100 million per year — for five years — was deemed the winner, edging Netflix.”
The Office is worth $500 million dollars and that’s only five years. Who knows what’ll happen after that, when it’s back on the table again.
Netflix is still going strong with a lot of its original content and other programs carrying the weight, but these recent losses show that it no longer has the monopoly on streaming. Back in 2017, Disney announced that it would remove its movie library from Netflix as it began to put the pieces in place for Disney+. Netflix paid $100 million to keep Friends for a year, but Warner Media will be wanting the sitcom for its own service.
As all these services emerge, it means that once again all the major networks will be creating and holding onto exclusive content, and that the only way to get it will be to pay extra money. Basically, soon we will be paying for cable all over again. Netflix and Hulu were supposed to help younger people “cut the cord” and have more affordable alternatives to an expensive cable package, but now that everyone is hopping on the bandwagon, it seems we will be back to square one. It is also just … frustrating to see all this money being spent on shows that are already in syndication. And think of all the shows that have gotten canceled because of funding issues.
The Office is a great show and I’m glad that it’s going to be accessible on a streaming network, but the idea of every channel getting one makes me more than a little anxious for my bank account.
Let’s just all watch the best scene from The Office.
And also this one, because Dwight is so Dwight.
(via The Hollywood Reporter, image: NBC)
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