Seeso, NBCUniversal’s subscription streaming service for comedy nerds, is now available online for free, but only to a select group of customers.
Starting Thursday, NBC is making Seeso available as part of a month-long beta test, which will give selected customers the first opportunity to navigate the service’s library of ad-free NBC comedy programming.
Shows include past episodes of 30 Rock and The Office, along with new episodes of Saturday Night Live and Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show, as well as a wide selection new original series and stand-up comedy specials. Customers can sign up for the beta version online, but the free month-long trial only has a limited number of spots available.
Comcast-owned (CMCSA) NBCUniversal first unveiled Seeso, which will cost $3.99 per month, in October. As Coins2Day noted at the time, the subscription service is targeting comedy devotees in an effort to carve out a niche in the world of streaming content, where rivals such as Netflix (NFLX) and Hulu—in which NBCUniversal owns a stake—already have established large user bases. Other networks have also launched their own subscription streaming services, including CBS (CBS) and HBO (TWX).
Seeso will officially launch for paid subscribers in January, and a handful of original series will start debuting on the service this month during the beta trial.