Friends-Entire-Cast

Friends Just Dumped Netflix for Another Streaming Service

Netflix Viewers Get Caught in the Middle of a Messy Breakup

We all love Netflix because it drops a never-ending supply of entertainment options straight into our living rooms. The service features a bit of something for everyone; sleeper hits like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before; binge-worthy series like Stranger Things 3. And Netflix even woos us with the promise of future gems like Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman (coming this fall). But in reality, most of us use our Netflix accounts to burn through episodes of The Office and Friends.

Now all of that is coming to an end.

Friends will move from Netflix to WarnerMedia’s streaming service, called HBO Max. It will transition over to HBO Max when the show’s Netflix deal expires “At the start of 2020.” According to The Hollywood Reporter,

Sources say WarnerMedia paid $85 million per year for five years ($425 million total) to land Friends.

HBO Max will launch in spring 2020 and feature 10, 000 hours of premium content including another classic ‘90s sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show will join current HBO series and its content library which includes classics such as Deadwood, The Wire, and Game of Thrones.

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Friends is the second mega-hit series to jump ship in recent weeks. Back in June, NBCUniversal announced that The Office will leave Netflix in 2021 and head exclusively to their own streaming service.

These two losses are huge blows for the streaming giant. Last December, The Daily Beast reported, “According to two sources with knowledge of Netflix’s private viewership numbers, The Office is the most-watched television show on the streaming service, period.”

Netflix doesn’t release its viewership numbers so its all speculation. But based on the responses of people on social media, the loss of Friends and The Office is nothing less than devastating. After the news broke, a Netflix spokesperson released the following statement on Twitter,

The One Where We Have To Say Goodbye. We’re sorry to see Friends go to Warner’s streaming service at the beginning of 2020 (in the US). Thanks for the memories, gang.

The key word wording here is, “In the US.” The same licensing window may not apply to Netflix subscribers in other regions.

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Once Friends and The Office leave the service, what will be your new go-to shows? Let us know at @VictorJStiff and @ThatShelf.



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