Revered sitcom Seinfeld is coming to Netflix

Netflix has won the rights to revered sitcom Seinfeld.

The streaming giant will offer all 180 episodes to its 151 million subscribers around the world when its five-year deal begins in 2021, the company said.

Netflix struck a deal with Sony Pictures Television, which controls the distribution of the award-winning sitcom.

No figures were publicly disclosed by either company but reports in the US suggested the deal could be worth more than 500 million US dollars (£402 million).

It comes after Netflix suffered a double blow as it lost the US rights to hugely popular sitcoms Friends and the US version of The Office.

Friends will move to WarnerMedia’s HBO Max streaming service in 2020 while The Office will leave Netflix for Comcast’s streaming platform in 2021.

International rights, including for the UK, were not included in either deal.

Competition in the streaming landscape is intensifying as giants of the entertainment industry fight for supremacy.

Apple TV+ will launch on November 1 while Disney Plus will arrive in the US on November 12.

Ahead of both launches, Seinfeld is seen as a major coup for Netflix.

Similar to Friends, its popularity is not bound to a single generation.

Seinfeld starred comedian Jerry Seinfeld as a fictionalised version of himself and aired from 1989 to 1998.

It was a huge critical and commercial success during its run.