The Streaming Licensing Shake-Up: Who Gets What in 2026

Exclusive simulcast windows have shortened across the board this year, from a typical full-season lock to staggered availability measured in weeks. Rights holders appear to have concluded that exclusivity was suppressing total reach.

Catalogue titles are the bigger story. Several long-running libraries changed hands, which means viewers in some regions gained hundreds of episodes overnight and others lost access to shows they had been mid-way through.

Regional gaps are narrowing but not closed. Southeast Asia and the Middle East have seen the largest availability gains; parts of Europe still face title-by-title patchworks driven by legacy broadcast deals.

Our streaming availability pages are updated whenever a licence moves, and we log the change date so you can see when your region gained or lost a title.