After the sudden passing of Andre Braugher, the question of when Homicide: Life on the Street could finally come to streaming came up again. It’s something all fans want to know.
The issue with streaming has been the music. When the series was made back in 1993, the idea of a streaming platform was just a figment of an imagination. The contracts weren’t written up to include music rights for after the show had originally aired, unless for reruns.
So, it wasn’t just as simple as putting the show on a streaming platform. Licensing rights for the music needed to be reworked, and there are seven seasons (and a movie!) to work through.
Homicide: Life on the Street could come to streaming soon
The good news is NBCUniversal confirms that the licensing issues are being worked out, according to TVLine. The team is close to a resolution, which will allow Homicide: Life on the Street to head to streaming platforms around the world.
What’s not clear is which streaming platform at first. It’s possible that NBCUniversal will want to put it on Peacock at first, and then look at licensing it out to other platforms. There may be a tough bid for the series considering the popularity.
Can’t the music just be switched out?
Wouldn’t it be easier for the series to just switch out the music? Well, yes and no.
We all know what it’s like to find out our favorite shows don’t have the same music. Just look at Supernatural fans who have lost some of the special moments because a change in the music. Fortunately, the most important songs were licensed. Charmed fans were angry when the theme music was changed in the opening credits of the Season 8 DVD due to licensing running out and studios not paying to continue it for the release of the DVD boxsets.
David Simon, who wrote Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, also shared that switching out the music isn’t that easy. The shows are carefully cut to the tempo, theme, and melody of the song, and switch things out causes problems.
So, we have to continue to wait patiently. It looks like we may soon be able to watch Homicide: Life on the Street on streaming, though.