The Wall Street Journal noted Friday that Sony is aiming for the “Seinfeld” sale price to top the estimated $500,000 per episode that Netflix paid last year for rights to another NBC comedy classic, “Friends.” Details on the sale are still sketchy but it is expected to be the entire library of 172 episodes, which ran on NBC from 1989 through 1998. “Seinfeld” hit the SVOD auction block just after CBS concluded a surprisingly rich deal with Hulu for the rights to past and future seasons of “CSI.” That deal coupled with Netflix’s purchase of “Friends” has spurred Hollywood’s majors to more aggressively shop shows that are outside the serialized drama milieu that has driven the growth of Netflix and other SVOD players. “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.
– 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.