Despite reviving cult sitcomCommunity,Yahoos attempt at original TV programming is already dead in the water.
CFO Ken Goldman admitted this week that Yahoo lost $42 million making the sixth season ofCommunityalong with two original shows, Sin City Saintsand Other Space. When Yahoo bought the rights toCommunity,it supposedly offered asimilar budgetto the shows run on NBC, which came to around$2 million per episode.
Goldman concluded that for now, Yahoo couldnt see a way to make money over time on its original programming, which streamed for free on Yahoo! Screen.
While Goldman didnt rule out the possibility of making more TV shows in the future, its pretty clear that Communitywont be returning to Yahoo. Even with the help of blatant Honda advertisements embedded into the show, Communitydidnt have enough advertisers or viewers to be remotely profitable. Not evenCommunitys enthusiastic online following could make it a popular choice.
However, that doesnt mean other cult shows are similarly doomed. Arrested Developmentseems to be doing fine on Netflix, for example, and Veronica Marsobviously found success with Kickstarter. So dont lose hope for that Communitymovie just yet.