Sony takes ‘Community’ non-exclusive as Netflix, Hulu strike deals

Community

Netflix has signed a non-exclusive global deal with Sony Pictures Television (SPT) to begin streaming all six seasons of US comedy Community from 1 April.

SPT has also extended its existing deal with Disney-owned Hulu, which will allow the US streamer to keep showing the comedy but no longer on an exclusive basis.

As both deals are non-exclusive, Sony may also be looking to licence the series to other platforms – it is already available on Amazon Prime Video in some territories.

Community follows a quirky study group who bond at community college and ran for five seasons on NBC between 2009 and 2014, before a sixth and final season was picked up by the short-lived Yahoo! Screen platform in 2015.

The acquisition represents a boost to Netflix’s comedy library, after its third-party programme offerings were hit by US studios launching their own direct-to-consumer offerings.

While Netflix acquired rights to stream Seinfeld repeats – taking the show away from Hulu – from next year, it has also lost evergreen comedies such as Friends to WarnerMedia and The Office to NBCUniversal.