Netflix pays $100m to keep Friends
December 5, 2018
Netflix has paid $100 million (€88m) to keep the globally-popular Friends sitcom in its streaming library for another year.
News recently emerged that Netflix’s current deal with Warner Bros for the show’s rights would expire on January 1st 2019. It is believed that Netflix responded swiftly to combat the negative amount of coverage the story was receiving across social media.
Netflix had been paying WarnerMedia $30 million a year since 2015 for the rights but the price has increased significantly from 2019, according to the New York Times.
Friends, which aired for 10 seasons between 1994-2004, will also stream on AT&T’s WarnerMedia’s new site. So despite the hefty price hike, Netflix won’t even be the exclusive online home for the show, at least in the US.