‘The Office’: Netflix Speaks out After NBC Plans to Pull Show From Streaming Service

Netflix confirmed reports that The Office will be leaving its catalogue shortly, apologizing to fans and binge-watchers everywhere.

On Tuesday, news broke that The Office is leaving Netflix for good in January of 2021. This is a huge blow to fans of the series, and those who use Netflix to re-watch their comfort shows over and over again. After the reports began to circulate, Netflix released a statement on Twitter in the evening.

“We’re sad that NBC has decided to take The Office back for its own streaming platform — but members can binge watch the show to their hearts’ content ad-free on Netflix until January 2021,” Netflix wrote.

The post sent shockwaves through social media, where many fans mourned the loss of their favorite show. They responded with GIFs and quotes from the series, as well as pleas for Netflix to pay whatever price NBC was asking to renew its license.

“NBC is the Toby of TV networks,” one fan wrote.

“The whole POINT of Netflix was to have many shows and movies available in one place,” added another. “If every network and movie company has their own ‘premium streaming’ service, we’re gonna be right back where we started with [rampant] piracy.”

The Office is not the first series to leave Netflix as NBC’s parent company, WarnerMedia works on its own streaming app. Last year there was widespread panic when Netflix quietly announced it would be removing all 10 seasons of Friends, not wanting to pay the massive licensing fee for one more year.

In response to the outcry, Netflix reportedly paid $100 million to get Friends for a while longer, yet it will still leave the service when The Office does. Meanwhile, they will join many other beloved shows, new and old on WarnerMedia’s forthcoming app.

Of course, the news is not all good for NBC and WarnerMedia. For one thing, many fans are furious about losing their favorite shows on their existing platforms, and they are bitter about being asked to pay for a new subscription service.

In addition, Warner has had to drop some successful shows in the process of organizing for its new app. This year, the company’s subsidiary, DC Entertainment launched a streaming app with some promising original shows, only to cancel them along with the DC Universe app itself.

Still, many fans blame Netflix when their favorite show leaves their queue, and no one else. The streaming service has tried to build up a catalogue of original content to make its rising prices worth it, yet many fans are angry about cancellations, such as One Day at a Time and other hit series. They argue that Netflix sacrificed these shows to pay an exorbitant price for Friends, which did not even work out in its favor.

All 10 seasons of The Office are available on Netflix for another year and a half. The WarnerMedia streaming app will go live some time in 2020.