New York (AFP)

The online video service Netflix announced Monday that it has acquired the rights to broadcast the American series "Seinfeld" from 2021, another step in the battle of the platforms to expand their catalogs before an explosion of competition.

This is a jump for Netflix, which will already lose "Friends" at the end of the year, as well as "The Office" from 2021, the two most watched series on its platform.

The digital broadcasting rights of "Seinfeld" are currently held by another platform, Hulu, a subsidiary of Disney, since 2015.

The transaction amount was not sent. NBCUniversal has disbursed $ 500 million over five years for "The Office" and WarnerMedia 425, also over five years, for "Friends".

The old series have become priced assets in anticipation of the launch in November, video subscriptions by Apple and Disney, then WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal in 2020.

Sony, who is the real owner of the rights of "Seinfeld" and only allows the exploitation, has never managed to take off his own platform, PlayStation Vue, and therefore had no interest in recovering exclusivity of the series.

In addition to "Friends" and "The Office", Netflix will also lose all the "Star Wars" catalogs, Pixar and Marvel, of which she broadcast a part so far and which belong to Disney.

© 2019 AFP