The Office,' 'Parks and Recreation' Extend Viacom Runs

The Office and Parks and Recreation are staying put in their current cable home.

The two beloved NBC comedies will remain on Viacom networks through the middle of the next decade. The Office's exclusive cable run on Comedy Central will continue through 2021, and after that the show will have a non-exclusive deal to air across Viacom networks until 2025.

Parks and Rec, meanwhile, will remain on Comedy Central through 2024.

"Keeping the exclusive rights to The Office through 2021 is a coup for Comedy Central and Viacom," Tanya Giles, general manager of Comedy Central, Paramount Network and TV Land, said Friday in a statement. "Since acquiring it, we've reinvigorated the franchise on linear, drawing big audiences throughout our full day schedule. It's also been a key lead-in to help drive viewers to our own original, acclaimed comedies. We're so excited to keep it on our air that we wouldn't even trade it for an iPod."

Both shows have proven to be valuable properties. The Office was the most-watched show on Netflix in terms of minutes viewed in 2018 with a staggering 52 billion minutes consumed. The UniversalTV comedy will move to Comcast streaming platform Peacock in 2021 in a $500 million mega-deal.

'The Office' will leave Netflix at the end of 2020.             

Parks and Recreation — which like The Office is an NBCUniversal property — will also make the move to Peacock, albeit with a less lucrative price tag. Absent a big streaming platform of its own, Viacom securing rights to properties like the two comedies for its linear networks is key. They will eventually be joined by Seinfeld, which will come to Viacom networks starting in 2021.

Barbara Zaneri, executive vp Viacom Programs Acquisition Group, closed the deal. Terms weren't disclosed.

Greg Daniels developed the American version of The Office, which ran for nine seasons on NBC. He also co-created Parks and Recreation with Mike Schur; it lasted seven seasons.