'Seinfeld' will leave Hulu and head to Netflix in 2021
Netflix subscribers will be saying goodbye to The Office in 2021, but starting that same year they'll have a new legacy TV series to rewatch endlessly: Seinfeld.
All 180 episodes from the classic NBC series will arrive on the streaming platform just as The Office takes its leave. It's a loss for Hulu, which is the current streaming home for Seinfeld reruns on the internet.
Netflix confirmed the news in a Monday afternoon tweet.
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"Seinfeld is the television comedy that all television comedy is measured against," Netflix exec Ted Sarandos said in a statement. “It is as fresh and funny as ever and will be available to the world in 4K for the first time."
The financial terms of the deal aren't known, but the license secures Seinfeld's home on Netflix for five years, starting in 2021. A report from the Los Angeles Times noted that the streamer paid "far more" than the $500 million NBCUniversal reportedly paid for The Office.
While Netflix has, by its own admission, shifted much of its attention to original productions, a catalog offering like Seinfeld brings huge added value to the platform. Even rave reviews for homegrown hits like Stranger Things and The Crown can't keep subscribers committed like comfort binge classics.
Coming after the recent shifts for Friends and The Office, this whole episode illustrates just how impermanent the streaming landscape really is. Netflix is locked in with Seinfeld for five years starting in 2021, but will it stick around after that?
It doesn't matter to these companies. Seinfeld can bring new customers into the mix in the here and now, and that's the most important thing for a subscription-based business like Netflix.
Topics Netflix
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
