If Hulu and Netflix want to be treated like real, live television networks, then they’ve just passed an important milestone in that regard: Losing the rights to Saturday Night Live reruns. Yes, just as Comedy Central, E!, and Nick At Nite were ushered into full-fledged, legitimized networkdom after another cable outlet yanked SNL out from under their noses, Yahoo! has effectively bar/bat mitzvah’d its online competitors by dropping more than $10 million on the sketch show’s 38-season archive. Come September 2013, Yahoo! will be the Internet’s exclusive supplier of Gilda Radner slamming into closed doors, robot insurance, and “Dick In A Box”—all of which will be available for streaming outside North America for the first time. So not only is this an important rite of passage for Hulu and Netflix, but it’s the beginning of an era where actual Czech brothers can view their wild-and-crazy comedy surrogates while pondering the sad, strange decline of Dan Aykroyd’s career. Watershed moments all around!
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