Yahoo Shuts Down Video Service

Yahoo Screen was the hub for the tech giant's originals business, including the sixth season of 'Community.'

Yahoo has shuttered the video service that once served as the home for the sixth season of Community, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Yahoo Screen, which launched in 2011 and offered up original series, short clips and licensed content, now redirects to the Yahoo homepage. According to a spokeswoman, all of Yahoo's video content will instead be routed to the company's various digital magazines, the Tumblr-powered topical sections of the Yahoo site that were first introduced in 2014.

"At Yahoo, we’re constantly reviewing and iterating on our products as we strive to create the best user experience," a company spokeswoman said in a statement. "With that in mind, video content from Yahoo as well as our partners has been transitioned from Yahoo Screen to our digital magazine properties so users can discover complementary content in one place."

Over the last several years as Yahoo invested in original video, the company built Screen as a central home for the content, which has ranged from Bachelor spoof series Burning Love to Saturday Night Live clips to a live NFL game. To further build up Yahoo's video efforts, CEO Marissa Mayer hired global anchor Katie Couric to conduct interviews with newsmakers and appointed CMO Kathy Savitt as head of media to oversee the launch of an original initiative that included a new season of canceled NBC comedy Community and two other half-hour series.

But the originals effort has been a casualty of the beleaguered company's efforts to streamline as Mayer has faced increased scrutiny from investors. The company had planned to separate from its stake in Alibaba but reverted course in December and announced that it would instead look to spin off its core business.

After three years presiding over Yahoo's media push, Savitt left the company in September, three months after the final episode of Community debuted on Yahoo Screen, for a job with STX. In October, Yahoo announced that it had taken a $42 million write down on the video division. CFO Ken Goldman said at the time that he "couldn't see a way to make money over time" on originals such as Community.

Former Time Inc. editor Martha Nelson, who took over as Yahoo's head of media after Savitt's departure, will now oversee the distribution of Yahoo's videos across its various digital magazines. Community, for example, will be available under Yahoo TV. The company's music programming, including full concerts streamed through a deal with Live Nation, will fall under music.

Yahoo will continue to produce new videos through the various digital magazines and from a video news unit led by Couric.