“The Simpsons” will begin off-network airing on Freeform in September 2019, the network announced Tuesday.
Still airing new episodes on Fox, at least through 2020-21, “The Simpsons” will now rerun episodes from all 30 seasons of Matt Groening’s animated family comedy on the cabler.
Previously “The Simpsons” ran off-network on FXX, which has also been the streaming home for the show, having landed the full library rights in 2013. FXX and its parent company FX Networks, in addition to 20th Century Fox Television (which produces “The Simpsons”), became a part of Disney earlier this year; Freeform is also under the Disney umbrella. Freeform also shares off-network rights to “Family Guy,” another one of Fox’s long-running, hit animated comedies, with FXX. Last month, it was announced that “The Simpsons” would have a new streaming home on Disney Plus when that new service launches in November 2019.
“The Simpsons” was created by Groening and developed by James L. Brooks, Groening and Sam Simon. Brooks, Groening and Al Jean are executive producers of the series from Gracie Films Production in association with 20th Century Fox Television.
Freeform has made its intentions to double-down on animation clear; it previously put two new original series in development: the female-focused “Betches,” which will be written by Rachel Koller and executive produced by Emma Roberts, Samantha Fishbein, Jordana Abraham, Aleen Kuperman, Carli Haney, Kesila Childers and Gil Goldschein, and “Woman World,” from writer Aminder Dhaliwal and executive producer Felicia Day.
