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'Friends' will still be there for you, Netflix confirms
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A still from 'Friends' (NBC Universal, Inc./File)
It's confirmed: Streaming platform Netflix will continue to stream Friends throughout 2019.
The announcement was made through Netflix’ twitter account @netflix on Tuesday in response to fans’ questions about the “Availability until 1/1/19” notice on Netflix’s Friends page.
The Holiday Armadillo has granted your wish: “Friends” will still be there for you in the US throughout 2019 pic.twitter.com/Yd0VqRzk3r
— Netflix US (@netflix) December 3, 2018
Friends is a 236-episode American sitcom that aired on NBC from 1994 to 2004. It tells the story of six friends, three men and three women, facing life and love in their shared apartment in New York.
The New York Times reported that Netflix would pay US$100 million to the show’s owner, WarnerMedia, for the streaming rights through the end of 2019. This is a steep jump from last year’s reported payment of $30 million.
WarnerMedia’s parent company, AT&T, plans to launch a streaming service of its own.
Read also: Friends star lookalike arrested in UK after manhunt goes viral
“[Friends is] content we definitely want on our platform,” AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said about Friends on Tuesday, slate.com reported.
However, Stephenson also said the current agreement between Netflix and AT&T was nonexclusive, which means that both services could be streaming the show in 2020. (iru/kes)
