"Friends" Is Officially Leaving Netflix And Our Hearts Are In Pieces
Update on July 9, 2019 at 1:46 PM EST:
Friends is officially leaving Netflix! The iconic show is moving over to WarnerMedia's streaming service, HBO Max. HBO Max will also be the new streaming home for all your fave shows from The CW. That means that CW originals like Batwoman and Katy Keen will no longer make it onto Netflix after their season finales. The new streaming show will also include all of Pretty Little Liars available to stream, according to a Warner Media Group press release. HBO Max will officially launch in spring 2020.
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WarnerMedia recently announced plans to launch its own streaming service, and they plan to take Friends off of Netflix to avoid competition.
Since Warner owns the CW, it could be removing Riverdale from Netflix too.
Fans were concerned back in December about Friends leaving Netflix, but then the streaming service announced it would stay at least through the end of the year.
Stop what you are doing right now and go watch Friends, because you may not have much longer to binge it on Netflix. According to TVLine, WarnerMedia just announced plans for its own streaming service, and it's planning on taking "the crown jewels of Warner" with it.
If you remember, Friends almost left Netflix back in December, but then the streaming service made a deal to keep the show at least through 2019. Back then, the CEO of AT&T, WarnerMedia's parent company, said that when the new Warner streaming service comes out, they hope to share Friends with Netflix.
"[Friends is] content that we would definitely want on our platform, and it is obviously very important to Netflix as well," said Randall Stephenson. "Is it necessary to be exclusive to WarnerMedia on their product? No, it's not necessary, it's just important that we have the content."
Now, however, Warner has seemed to change its mind. Kevin Riley, the Chief Creative Officer of WarnerMedia, told reporters at the Television Critics Association that sharing shows with other streaming sources is no longer in the plan. "Sharing destination assets is not a good model," he said. "My belief is they should be exclusive to the service."
Along with Friends, you might lose some other shows as well when the Warner streaming service launches. The CW is also under WarnerMedia, meaning we could lose Riverdale after Netflix's contract with the CW ends this spring. "We’re very interested in putting that on our platform," said Kevin about the CW shows.
The new streaming service is still unnamed, and we don't know how much it's going to cost, or when it will even come out, though there are plans to have a beta version launched by the end of the year, according to TVLine. So, let's assume we only have ten months left with Friends....What are you waiting for? Get bingeing now! Seriously, could this BE any worse??
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