Sony Pictures Television 
 
 “Seinfeld” is about to become master of a whole new domain: the Internet. 
 
 Sony Pictures Television, a unit of Sony Corp., is in advanced talks to sell reruns of the hit 1990s NBC sitcom to an online video service, and expects to have a deal wrapped up in the next few weeks, people familiar with the situation said. 
 
 Among the bidders chasing the rights to the “show about nothing” are Hulu, Amazon and Yahoo. The deal could fetch a price well north of half a million dollars per episode, the people said. There are 180 Seinfeld episodes. 
 
 Netflix, which last year took a hard look at “Seinfeld,” is taking a pass on the show, a person familiar with the matter said. 
 
 Reruns of “Seinfeld have been on local TV stations and the cable channel TBS for years, but the buyers believe it has potential to continue that run for another several years on the Web. There, it could hold appeal for a generation of cord-cutters who can’t catch Seinfeld episodes on cable, and will allow users to search for their favorite episodes on-demand. 
 
 Landing the online video rights could elevate the stature of Hulu, Amazon and Yahoo, all of whom are in the large shadow of Netflix. 
 
 When Netflix acquired “Friends” last year from Warner Bros., it paid more than $500,000 per-episode, a person with knowledge of the deal said. Sony is seeking a higher price than what Warner Bros. received for “Friends.” 
 
 The price will depend, in part, on the length of the deal. The “Friends” agreement with Netflix runs for four years, which may be too short for some of the “Seinfeld” bidders. One suitor said a price tag higher than “Friends” doesn’t make sense if the contract is for less than ten years. 
 
 An agreement with an online video service would not mean the end of “Seinfeld” repeats on other outlets. “Friends” remains in heavy rotation on TBS even though Netflix has the rights and does not have commercials. Despite the addition of “Friends” to Netflix, ratings for the reruns on TBS have held steady. 
 
 Both Hulu and Amazon have been aggressive in acquiring content as they compete against Netflix. Hulu, which is owned by Walt Disney Co., Comcast Corp. and 21st Century Fox, recently bought reruns of the long-running CBS hit “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.” Amazon struck a deal with HBO last year for rights to many of its shows including “The Sopranos” and “Girls.” 
 
 Yahoo has been less active on the acquisition front, but has recently been making deals in an effort to make a splash. Besides an agreement with TV news personality Katie Couric, it also is buying new episodes of the cult hit “Community” that is produced by Sony and used to air on NBC. 
 
 Sony has long held distribution rights for “Seinfeld,” but the majority of the revenue from a sale will go to Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros., which acquired “Seinfeld” producer Castle Rock Entertainment as part of its 1996 purchase of Turner Broadcasting System. 
 
 “Seinfeld” creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David are also profit participants in the show, which Warner Bros. said in 2010 had generated $2.7 billion in syndication revenue. 
 
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 Subscribe to our morning newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox. ||||| In another sign that Hulu is stepping up its game, the digital video giant has landed the SVOD rights to “Seinfeld,” cutting a deal with Sony Pictures TV for all 180 episodes of the enduring NBC comedy. 
 
 The deal is said to be valued at just under $1 million an episode, which translates to a nearly $180 million windfall to be split by distributor Sony TV, Time Warner’s Castle Rock and “Seinfeld” profit participants, including star/co-creator Jerry Seinfeld and co-creator Larry David. The pact is expected to be announced at Hulu’s upfront presentation on Wednesday. 
 
 Sony TV, which has long controlled distribution rights to the series on behalf of original producer Castle Rock TV, has been shopping the property for its first SVOD licensing pact for the past few months. A limited number of “Seinfeld” reruns have been available online via Sony TV’s ad-supported Crackle video platform, but the Hulu pact marks the first time the series will be available in its entirety in the new era of binge-viewing. 
 
 “Seinfeld’s” move to Hulu follows Netflix’s purchase last year of the library rights to Warner Bros. TV’s “Friends,” another series from the heyday of “Must-See TV” NBC comedies. The show is believed to have performed well for Netflix. 
 
 The big bucks that Netflix paid for “Friends” and Hulu’s outlay for “Seinfeld” indicate that SVOD players are expanding their menus beyond the serialized off-network dramas that built Netflix and Hulu into Internet powerhouses. Hulu also cut a rich deal in February with CBS TV Distribution for more than 300 episodes and counting of the Eye’s “CSI,” the epitome of contemporary procedural dramas.
– Seinfeld is about to strike it rich again. The Wall Street Journal reports that suitors are lining up to acquire the streaming rights in a deal that could exceed $100 million. Netflix has dropped out of the running, reports the Journal, which says that Amazon, Hulu, and Yahoo are the leaders to wrap up a deal in the next few weeks. Friends recently got $500,000 an episode from Netflix, and Seinfeld will likely go higher. The deal is expected to encompass all 180 episodes. Variety notes that this an ideal time for Seinfeld to be on the market, given the Friends deal and another lucrative one in which Hulu scooped up CSI.