Recently it was revealed that Netflix might stop offering the “Friends” TV series in its catalogue starting in 2019, citing discussions with Warner Bros. Television as one of the reasons why they might not renew its license. However it was later revealed that the show would continue to be available through 2019.
It was also later revealed that Netflix had apparently spent $100 million to secure the licensing, and it seems that they are not alone in wanting the incredibly popular TV series. A report from Recode has revealed that both Apple and Hulu had apparently expressed their interest in getting the series and had placed their own bids.
However Recode’s report claims that Apple ended up pulling their bid, and suggested that Hulu’s aggressive bidding could have been what drove up the price from $30 million to $100 million. “Friends” was originally launched in 1994 but is still very much loved and celebrated by its fans even today, where its stars unfortunately still seem to find it hard to escape being associated with their characters.
However that’s not necessarily a bad thing because from the syndication revenue that they are getting, it has been reported that it amounts to roughly $20 million a year for basically doing nothing and reaping the rewards of a hit show from 24 years ago.
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