Seeso says sayonara: NBC-owned comedy streaming service shutting down: Report

Seeso won’t live to see its second birthday.

The all-comedy streaming video-on-demand service announced on its Facebook page Wednesday that it was shutting down by year’s end. 

“Though we will be departing, much of our comedy will live on — and some of your favorite Seeso Originals have already found a new home,” Seeso promised its fans.

In an email to The Washington Times, Julia Queller, a representative for VRV, a multi-channel streaming platform specializing in animation, gaming and comedy programming, said Seeso original programming like “HarmonQuest” and “Cyanide and Happiness,” among others, is moving to the service’s VRV Select channel.

“All current seasons for these shows will be available starting 8/8. Additionally, season 2 of HarmonQuest will premiere and be available exclusively on VRV starting September 15,” said Ms. Queller.

Launched in January 2016, Seeso offered viewers the entire “Saturday Night Live” archive, various NBC comedies and original programming for just $3.99 a month, Tubefilter reported when the service launched.

Industry watchers saw the writing on the wall for the service when the project’s head, Evan Shapiro, left NBC Universal, Vulture reported at the time.

The news is the latest in a wave of cutbacks throughout the industry. NBCUniversal recently shut down the Esquire Network’s linear cable channel in favor of a digital platform, with industry observers predicting other networks to follow suit in exiting the scripted content, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“To that end, WGN America recently opted to exit the scripted originals game in favor of low-cost acquisitions as it shifts from an AMC-like network to a business model more in line with Ion,” THR observed.

But while many broadcast networks may be consolidating their operations, other players in the industry are just getting ready to dive into streaming. On Tuesday, Disney announced it will remove its movies from Netflix and host them on its proprietary streaming channel come 2019, while Disney-owned ESPN reported that it will debut a streaming-video channel for sports programming in early 2018.