One of first OTT casualties: NBC Universal is to shut down its OTT streaming video service Seeso later this year.
Seeso launched on January 7, 2016. It provides comedy content such as original and broadcast television shows and was available at $3.99 a month, offering next-day streaming of Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night With Seth Meyer, and other NBC comedy programmes as well as acquired fare such as the original Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
The service failed to generate a substantial subscriber base, with a round of layoffs hitting Seeso back in June. The layoffs came one month after the departure of Evan Shapiro, who launched the service as executive vice president of NBCUniversal Digital Enterprises.
“We’re writing to let you know that later this year, Seeso will be shutting its comedy doors,” the broadcaster wrote in a statement posted on its Facebook page.
“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. You can now find Harmon Quest, My Brother, My Brother and Me, Hidden America with Jonah Ray and The Cyanide and Happiness Show on VRV.”
(VRV, pronounced “verve,” is an a la carte media service targeted at the Comic-Con set. It’s a project from Ellation, the parent company of Crunchyroll, one of the largest anime streaming services in the world.)
