‘Seinfeld’ to Follow in the Way of ‘Friends’, Soon to Be Available on a Streaming Service

Seinfeld is close to joining a major streaming service reports The Wall Street Journal. Sony Pictures Television is in advanced talks to sell reruns of the hit 1990s NBC sitcom to an online video service. Among the bidders are Hulu, Amazon and Yahoo. A deal is expected to be closed in the next few weeks.

While Seinfeld reruns have been airing on local TV stations and the cable channel TBS for years, the bidders apparently think it has potential to continue being attractive to web viewers who can't catch their favorite episodes on cable. Once a deal is made, these viewers can simply get whatever episode they want on-demand from the streaming service provider who wins the bid. As observed by The Wall Street Journal, "Landing the online video rights could elevate the stature of Hulu, Amazon and Yahoo, all of whom are in the large shadow of Netflix."

Netflix which last year acquired Friends from Warner Bros., reportedly for more than $500,000 per-episode, is not among those currently bidding for Seinfeld. Under the agreement, Netflix will have the rights to run Friends for four years.

Sony is reportedly asking for a higher price for Seinfeld than what Warner Bros. got for Friends. But bidders want that at that price, the contract over the use of the long-running sitcom should be for not less than ten years.

While Sony holds the distribution rights for Seinfeld, the majority of the revenue from a sale will go to Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros., which acquired show producer Castle Rock Entertainment as part of its 1996 purchase of Turner Broadcasting System according to the Wall Street Journal story. Show creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David will also share in the profit.

Seinfeld originally aired on NBC for nine seasons from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998. Aside from the syndicated back episodes, Sony through its Sony Pictures Home Entertainment also released all nine seasons of Seinfeld on DVD.