Why The Office Is Leaving Netflix

NBC to fork out $500 million to bring The Office to its upcoming new streaming service.

by Andrew Pollard
Dwight Michael The Office
NBC

Currently, the US version of The Office can be found on Netflix for your viewing pleasure. If you’re a fan of the show, however, make sure to enjoy it while you can.

Straight from NBCUniversal, it’s been announced that The Office will be pulled from Netflix as of early 2021; this being the latest move in the ongoing battle between the various streaming services that are turning up all over the place.

With NBC launching its own streaming service in 2020, the call was made to essentially buy back The Office. The Steve Carrell-headlined series may currently be on Netflix, but that will changing over the next few years as NBC branches out to the ever-expanding market of on-demand streaming services. The cost of all of this, though? Well, that’s enough to make you choke on your coffee.

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For a five-year commitment to showcase The Office on its own streaming platform, NBCUniversal is paying a whopping $500 million. That figure represents $100 million per year for a five-year agreement, and NBCU had to swat away competition from Netflix, Amazon, Apple, and Hulu to land a show that originally aired on the NBC network from 2005 to 2013.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.