NBC Exec Says ‘The Office’ May Leave Netflix in 2021

The days of The Office being available to stream on Netflix might be over soon, after NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke talked about when the show might be removed.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter about plans for a new streaming service from NBCU and its corporate parent Comcast, Burke revealed that Netflix’s deal for The Office runs through 2021.

“The Office is often the No. 1 show on a monthly basis on Netflix,” Burke pointed out. “Netflix has The Office through 2021, and when the time comes we’ll look at our existing direct-to-consumer service and what kind of volume it has and how much we could expect to make if we moved it over, and we’ll have a discussion with Netflix and we’ll decide what’s right for the show.”

While Netflix continues to make its own shows, library content like NBCU’s The Office continues to attract viewers.

According to Recode, data from analytics firm Jumpshot reveals that 7.19 percent of all Netflix views are episodes of The Office, with Friends earning 4.13 percent of all views. Another NBCU show, Parks and Recreation, comes in at third, making up 2.34 percent of all views.

Burke said NBCU and Comcast can launch their own streaming service even while still owning part of Hulu. After all, Disney owns part of Hulu, too, and is launching Disney+ next year.

“We have plenty of product while remaining in Hulu. Everybody is going to compete with everybody,” Burke explained. “Disney is going to have services that compete with Hulu. Obviously Netflix will. Amazon will. It’s a big world and there will be a lot of different competitors. This is just a new one.”

Comcast also bought the U.K. media company Sky, which will provide their streaming service with even more content.

“It’s going to give us more scale,” Burke said. “I think Sky has a lot of attractive TV shows that we can bring to the U.S. We have a lot of attractive shows that we can bring to Europe. It gives us a nice leg up in a very important market as we try to get scale. Eventually these businesses are all going to be global businesses.”

Despite ending in 2013, The Office remains one of the most popular sitcoms on television, thanks in part to it remaining easily available on Netflix. Talks of a reunion or revival have heated up in recent months, especially after Ed Helms, Ellie Kemper and Jenna Fischer crashed Steve Carell’s Saturday Night Live monologue last year.

“I think a one-off special would be the way to go,” Paul Lieberstein, who played Toby and served as showrunner on The Office, told The Daily Beast in December. “Some event that brings everyone back together.”