‘The Office’ Is Leaving Netflix (in 2021)
Despite its conclusion some six years ago, the American version of The Office remains wildly popular in syndication and on Netflix, where it was recently deemed one of the most-watched shows on the platform despite the avalanche of new and original content available there. So this is sort of big news: The Office is leaving Netflix, albeit not until 2021.
Instead, The Office’s future online home is NBC’s upcoming streaming service (everyone has a streaming service these days). More details, via CNBC:
A person familiar with the negotiations said Netflix made an offer to keep it, but the offer was rejected. Netflix was willing to pay up to $90 million a year for the rights, but NBC topped that offer and will pay $100 million. ( “The Office” was produced by Universal Television, a different division of NBCUniversal, in association with Deedle-Dee Productions and Reveille Productions.) One idea under consideration was to split the rights, with Netflix being the home for ad-free watching, and NBC’s service being the ad-supported option.
NBC’s deal for The Office’s streaming rights is reportedly exclusive for five years starting in January 2021. Buuuuuuut it doesn’t go into effect for like 18 months, so you can still binge all 200 episodes of the American Office until then. Does anyone else find it surreal that NBC aired The Office for almost a decade, turned it into a phenomenon, and then had to pay $100 for its reruns? Just me?
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