‘Friends’ To Remain On Netflix Through 2019

Netflix is putting to rest fears that Friends would leave the streaming service on Jan. 1. Netflix just confirmed via tweet that the hit Warner Bros. TV-produced comedy series will remain through 2019.

There have been questions about Friends’ future on the streaming service since WarnerMedia announced plans to launch a competing subscription service next year.

BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield suggested back in October that Friends could leave Netflix as WarnerMedia claws back its content to launch a competing subscription service. The loss of the perennially popular sitcom would represent a blow.

The Warner Bros. Television show first aired in 1994 and ran for 10 seasons on NBC. The show’s appeal is undiminished, all these years later. The measurement firm Parrot Analytics said it’s the third most popular sitcom in the U.S., behind Brooklyn Nine-Nine (#1) and Big Bang Theory (#2).

Friends fans took to social media late Sunday and early Monday after the show’s Netflix page indicated it would be available until January 2019. It wasn’t a formal subscriber notice, notes one person familiar with the matter. But it stirred a genuine Twitter freak-out.

But rest easy, all is good until 2020.

Earlier today, Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos dismissed reports of Friends’ imminent departure, calling them “rumors.”

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