What’s the deal with streaming Seinfeld? Well, according to the latest reports, the classic '90s sitcom from comedian Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David will be leaving Hulu on June 23 and will eventually be making its way over to Netflix.
The blog Decider has reported that after six years on the Hulu streaming service, Seinfeld will no longer be available as of 11:59 p.m. on June 23. Netflix acquired the streaming rights to the entire 180-episode series back in 2019, which are set to run for five years starting in 2021. However, Netflix has yet to announce an official date that Seinfeld will debut on the service.
This means that as of June 24 and until it debuts on Netflix, Seinfeld will not be available to stream for free.
Seinfeld, which was created by Seinfeld and David, ran for nine seasons on NBC from 1989 to 1998. In addition to Seinfeld playing a version of himself, the show starred Jason Alexander as George, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Elaine and Michael Richards as Kramer, as well as a number of well known supporting characters and guest actors.
The series has come to be referred to as “the show about nothing” but sure created a lot of memorable TV moments, from the contest to the Soup Nazi to Festivus and the puffy shirt, just to name a few. It remained popular years after its run ended thanks to syndication.
As new streaming services emerged, some of Netflix’s biggest TV show draws have left the service, including The Office, which moved to Peacock, and Friends, which has a new home at HBO Max.
Netflix likely hopes that Seinfeld can become just as popular among its subscribers as those shows were. They certainly ponied up like that was the case; The Los Angeles Times reported of the deal in 2019 that it was worth more than $500 million. Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos also said that when Seinfeld arrives on Netflix, it will be available in 4K for the first time.
Jerry Seinfeld already had a relationship with Netflix prior to the arrival of Seinfeld on the service. The comedian’s most recent stand-up specials, including 2020’s 23 Hours to Kill, debuted on Netflix.
While Netflix has spent many years developing and promoting its own original movies and TV Shows, the streaming of classic TV series is still popular among its subscribers, as Netflix’s licensed titles — like Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS and Criminal Minds — often show up in Nielsen’s top weekly streamed programs. Seinfeld could very well start cracking that list when it arrives.
Netflix remains the largest streaming service across the globe, with more than 200 million subscribers. A Netflix subscription runs between $8.99 per month and $17.99 per month, depending on package details.
