The future of comedy SVOD service Seeso is uncertain as parent company NBCUniversal has just laid off a portion of the streaming company’s staff. News of the layoff arrives on the heels of Seeso VP of Digital Enterprises Evan Shapiro’s exit early last month, which prompted president of NBCU digital enterprises Maggie Suniewick to take up duties and responsibilities.
According to THR, the newly-announced cuts are said to have impacted a number of employees, some of which “have been reassigned to different roles within NBCUniversal’s digital enterprises division.” NBC Universal is now reportedly in the process of reassessing Seeso’s entire business model.
With Seeso’s business model now in limbo, previous speculation, that the comedy streaming service’s original programming arm may be on the chopping block, has resurfaced. Though nothing is yet set in stone, word is executives in charge are discussing the matter and everything is on the table. Deadline even goes to far as to say the company may be exploring the idea of selling its existing original properties.
Seeso was launched by Shapiro back in 2016 as a hub for all-things comedy. The service, which costs a mere $3.99, offers subscribers access to comedy shows like Saturday Night Live, The Office, Parks and Recreation, Monty Python and Kids in the Hall. Among the SVOD service’s originals are Bajillion Dollar Propertie$, Dan Harmon’s Harmonquest, Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher’s Take My Wife and the travel parody show Hidden America with Jonah Ray
Seeso also has a number of original comedy specials under its belt including Sasheer Zamata’s Pizza Mind, Nick Thune’s Good Guy and Janeane Garofalo’s If I May with plans to release Doug Stanhope’s Comedians’ Comedian’s Comedians later this month and the Sklar Brothers’ forthcoming special Hipster Ghosts in September.