‘Saturday Night Live’ YouTube channel goes live across the world, but US viewers left out

For the first time ever, Saturday Night Live is officially on YouTube. Broadway Video, Lorne Michaels’ production company behind the iconic show, has opened up its own ad-free Saturday Night Live YouTube channel with roughly 2,500 clips from the series’ 38 seasons. According to Variety, 2,000 more clips will be added soon. There’s a major catch though: everyone in the world other than those in the United States will be able to watch the clips.

Earlier this year Broadway Video signed an agreement with Yahoo to offer its catalog of clips exclusively through the site in the US, which explains the series’ region locking on YouTube in the states. The one-year deal was designed to bring attention to the Yahoo Screen site and the company’s own original comedy programming.

The new YouTube channel, meanwhile, is intended to promote Saturday Night Live’s syndication deals across the world. (Variety reports that SNL can be found in 170 countries.) The production company is using a startup called Zefr to manage the YouTube channel, and it will run recommendations at the end of clips to spur further viewing.

Your online viewing options for SNL are fairly complicated then. If you’re abroad, you’ll want to stick to the YouTube channel. In the US, however, the majority of clips are on Yahoo’s site, while some clips and full episodes of the current season are on NBC and Hulu. Hulu Plus subscribers, meanwhile, can access the entire catalog of episodes. Season 39 of SNL, with a number of cast changes, premiers this Saturday, September 28th.