'The Office' To Stream Exclusively on NBCUniversal Starting in 2021
If you want to stream "The Office" in the future, it won't be on Netflix.
The Emmy-winning NBC series will leave its current streaming in 2020 and then only be available via NBCUniversal's upcoming streaming service, beginning in 2021.
But, unlike the other upcoming streaming services from Disney, WarnerMedia and Apple, NBCU’s site will be free to the company’s pay-TV subscribers and supported by advertising.
It will launch across Comcast in the US and Sky in the UK, reaching more than 50 million households from the moment it goes live in mid-2020, according to Deadline.
If don't have either of those cable providers, it's not clear what your access is. Perhaps that's where NBCU's stand-alone, subscription version, which is also in the works, would come in.
And it looks like there will be an "Office"-free gap between the time the show leaves Netflix and the time it hits NBCU's service.
During the NBCU upfront presentation in May, ad sales chief Linda Yaccarino said, "Next year we’re going to unveil the largest initiative in our company’s history: We’re going to have our own ad-supported platform. While other companies are pushing advertisers out, we’re bringing them in. It will have a slate of originals and a gigantic library of all favorites. The shows that people love the most and stream the most are coming home at a price that every person can afford: free."
Although there's no official launch date for the NBCU site, it's expected to be timed to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Other NBC shows will also be "coming home" to the network's new service, the company announced earlier this year.
[Via Deadline]