All 10 seasons and 236 episodes of Friends will be available on Bell-owned streaming service Crave starting on December 31st.
A few months ago, it was revealed that 90s sitcom Friends would eventually be moving from Netflix to WarnerMedia-owned U.S.-exclusive streaming service HBO Max. Given HBO Max isn’t available in Canada, it was unclear where the iconic series would land north of the U.S. border.
That said, given a lot of HBO Max content is available on Crave, including Love Life, Legendary, The Flight Attendant, Wonder Woman 1984 and more, many assumed that Friends would eventually land on the streaming platform. There was also a possibility that Netflix would retain the exclusive Canadian streaming right to the series.
The One Where We Have To Say Goodbye.
We’re sorry to see Friends go on Dec. 31 in Canada. Thanks for the memories, gang ☕️
— Netflix Canada (@Netflix_CA) December 1, 2020
Could we BE anymore excited?
Crave Becomes the Exclusive Canadian Streaming Home of #FRIENDS, December 31. https://t.co/LTDKMAv2ZU pic.twitter.com/IJq1dSAuFT— Crave (@CraveCanada) December 1, 2020
In a recent tweet, Netflix Canada confirmed that Joey and friends are leaving the streaming platform on December 31st. Crave then quickly followed suit and announced that Friends would hit its streaming service on that same date.
Friends joins other classic TV shows on Crave like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and The Bernie Mac Show.
Netflix paid $100 million for the rights to stream Friends exclusively on its platform back in 2015. In July 2019, WarnerMedia outbid Netflix for an amount between $400 million – $500 million for the exclusive streaming rights to the TV show in the United States. This resulted in Friends being exclusive to HBO Max in the U.S. While Friends is an NBC series, the TV show was produced by Warner Brothers, a division of WarnerMedia.
Unlike most HBO Max content, Crave has confirmed Friends will be available through its base-level $9.99 monthly subscription tier.
Crave offers three tiers: basic, Movies + HBO and Starz Programming. On top of Crave’s regular monthly $9.99 CAD cost, Crave + Movies + HBO costs an extra $9.99 per month, and Starz is an extra $5.99 per month.
Update 01/12/2020 3:17pm: Crave has confirmed that Friends will be available through its base $9.99 subscription tier. The story has been updated to reflect this information.
Image credit: NBC
Source: @Netflix_CA, @CraveCanada
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