‘Homicide: Life on the Street’ Might Head to Streaming Soon; Which Other Fan-Favorite Titles Don’t Stream Anywhere?

The entertainment world was shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of actor Andre Braugher on Dec. 11. But fans may soon have a new way to celebrate Braugher’s life and career, as the series that initially brought him to stardom, “Homicide: Life on the Street,” could be gearing up to find its way to streaming at long last.

• “Homicide” writer/producer David Simon posted on X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter) that the show may finally be headed to streaming soon.
• The show is most likely to head to Peacock, but its rights may be licensed to a third-party platform.
• “Murphy Brown” and “Northern Exposure” head list of other popular titles that can’t be streamed anywhere currently.

Where Will ‘Homicide’ Be Available to Stream?

It’s not guaranteed that “Homicide: Life on the Street” is coming to a streaming platform near you any time soon. But the show’s writer/producer David Simon took to X this weekend to inform fans that NBCUniversal was at least attempting to iron out the rights necessary to get the series on a streaming platform. Simon noted that the Emmy-winning work of Braugher in the show was more than enough to compensate for the effort involved.

I have been informed by a reliable source that NBC/Universal is at last attempting, along with Fremantle on the overseas rights, to clear music rights on #Homicide for eventual streaming. Lot of work to do achieve that, however, I am also told.

Andre alone ought to rate such.

— David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023

As is often the case in situations like this, the issue in streaming series like “Homicide” is not with the show itself, but rather with the music used in the original episodes. Since deals to use popular music in series from decades past often long predated the advent of streaming, the content owners must get new approvals to include songs before they can be made available on a given platform. Not only does that get complicated because of the sheer number of songwriters involved, it also requires the studios to pay more money for the rights in question; something that they are not normally wont to do.

“Homicide” was broadcast on NBC during its 1993-1999 run, so if it becomes available to stream, it’s likeliest that NBCU’s streamer Peacock will be the show’s home. That’s where Braugher’s latest series “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” also streams, and it makes the most sense to have the two shows housed alongside each other, particularly if extra effort is being made to get “Homicide” streaming to commemorate Braugher’s career.

There’s an outside chance that “Homicide” gets licensed to Netflix instead, as well. Much has been made of the success of NBCU’s series “Suits” on Netflix, and with good reason. The show has been incredibly popular since it debuted on Netflix this summer, and NBCU may decide to take advantage of Netflix’s huge global subscriber count once again.

Which Other Popular Shows Aren’t Available to Stream?

TV shows that were created before streaming became a top method of watching video are a lot trickier to bring to streaming platforms. As with “Homicide,” one of the iconic series of the 1980s was long prevented from streaming because of music rights. The Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd dramedy “Moonlighting” ended its run on ABC in 1989, but had not made its way to streaming until September 2023, largely because of music-licensing issues.

That has left fans of other hugely popular titles, some of which won Emmys of their own, waiting and hoping to see if their chosen show will ever stream. Check out The Streamable’s list of top 10 shows that are not yet streaming below, and make sure to tell the executive in charge of that show’s rights that you want it on streaming ASAP!