Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
If you want to binge-watch a show about nothing, you’re going to have to turn to Hulu, as the online service has acquired the video streaming rights to all 180 episodes of Seinfeld for slightly less than $1 million per episode, various media outlets reported earlier this week.
According to Gizmodo and Variety, the Los Angeles-based Netflix rival shelled out about $875 thousand dollars per episode (a total value of nearly $160 million) to fend off their competition. The licensing deal between Hulu and Sony TV is believed to be for at least five years. The show is expected to hit the service in June, so binge-watchers have about a month to prepare.
The per-episode deal will be split evenly between Sony TV, which is distributing the show; the original production company, Castle Rock; and co-creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David. The deal comes on the heels of Netflix’s late-2014 purchase of the rights to Friends, another sitcom that was televised by NBC in the 1990s, for more than $500 thousand per episode.
They’re out of the contest
While Amazon and Yahoo were both said to be in the mix for the rights to stream the adventures of Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer online, the Wall Street Journal (citing a person familiar with the matter) reported back in March that Netflix decided to pass on the bidding.
“Reruns of Seinfeld have been on local TV stations and the cable channel TBS for years, but the buyers believe it has potential to continue that run for another several years on the Web,” the WSJ said. “There, it could hold appeal for a generation of cord-cutters who can’t catch Seinfeld episodes on cable, and will allow users to search for their favorite episodes on-demand.”
“An agreement with an online video service would not mean the end of Seinfeld repeats on other outlets,” they added. “Friends remains in heavy rotation on TBS even though Netflix has the rights and does not have commercials. Despite the addition of Friends to Netflix, ratings for the reruns on TBS have held steady.”
Seinfeld had previously only been available online through Sony’s ad-supported Crackle video platform, Variety said, and the Hulu deal will mark the first time that the series can be watched in its entirety through a Web-based streaming service. The acquisition comes after Hulu acquired the rights to more than 300 episodes of the CBS crime drama CSI back in February.
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