Suits LA binned as NBC upfronts set to begin
With a squeeze on international content deals available for Australian TV networks — and streaming services and the rights for NBCU content up for negotiation within the next 18 months — there will be increased local scrutiny of the NBC Upfronts held in New York this week.
As NBC firms up its 2025/26 broadcast schedule ahead of its presentation (12:30am tonight, AEST) it has revealed cancellations for the buzzy Suits revival series Suits LA, procedural dramas The Irrational and Found, and sitcoms Night Court and Lopez vs Lopez.
Suits LA
TV cancellations happen every season, so the loss of The Irrational and Lopez vs Lopez won’t be felt too hard by Seven — both shows are streaming on 7Plus– but the cancellation of Suits LA after a single 13-episode season will be a disappointment.
Suits LA was commissioned after the Suits back catalogue found a big audience on Netflix. The 2011 show topped the US Nielsen streaming charts in 2023 and NBC was quick to put the sequel series into production.
Seven fast-tracked the release of the show in February with episodes available on 7Plus within hours of US broadcast.
In Australia, NBCUniversal’s catalogue is split three ways: Seven handles the fresh NBC broadcast series, Foxtel (and its streamer Binge) hosts Peacock US and Sky Studios UK titles, while Hayu gets the first‑run Bravo reality shows.
With DAZN now running Foxtel, there will be greater scrutiny over the value of Foxtel’s deals with suppliers.
The existing deal with Foxtel was announced in November 2022. Mumbrella understands it runs through to 2027, with the optionality to exit six months earlier.
Stan is an obvious interested party for when negotiations begin next year. Stan held the rights in the previous window, but Mumbrella understands it opted not to renew over price concerns and the early termination clause.
DAZN may look at the cost of the existing deal and determine it is too expensive, or it could go the opposite direction and seek to expand the terms of the deal to include the first-run NBC programming.
The NBCU deal is the last sizable output deal for first-run shows available to Australian TV networks with Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, and Paramount each running their own direct-to-consumer streaming services locally.
The launch of WBD’s Max service in Australia in March has placed greater pressure on local streamers Stan and BINGE as competition for available content and subscribers has increased.
