Traditionally, retail home video releases of ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'' material have consisted of "Best Of" compilations, comprising select performances (typically sketches) of past cast members, and notable guest hosts. Beginning in 1999,

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

releases were distributed by

Lionsgate Home Entertainment Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

under license from NBC, predating the network's merger with

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...

. Following the establishment of

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primaril ...

in 2004, Universal Studios, owners of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

, ''Saturday Night Lives broadcast home, ceased the existing arrangement of outside distribution of ''SNL'' material. While Lionsgate is no longer able to acquire new ''SNL''-related content, they have retained reissuing rights to their existing ''SNL'' content library. On December 5, 2006,

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...

released on DVD "''Saturday Night Live'': The Complete First Season," comprising complete episodes. Upon the set’s release, some criticism of its authenticity as complete and uncut episodes arose from reviewers and fans. This was due to the existence of original live copies, which in comparison to the "complete" episodes reveal edits and omissions, which are common among the rerun versions of the shows in the set.Saturday Night Live: The complete 1st season review
from TVShowsOnDVD Following the successful sales of the first season, the next four seasons have been released. No subsequent releases are planned for the near future, due to prohibitive

music licensing Music licensing is the licensed use of copyrighted music. Music licensing is intended to ensure that the owners of copyrights on musical works are compensated for certain uses of their work. A purchaser has limited rights to use the work without ...

costs and the rise of streaming video.

DVD releases

Seasons

Specials

¹ Distributed by

² Distributed by

Universal Studios Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...

³ Aspect ratio: 4:3 (fullscreen)
⁴ Aspect ratio: 16:9 (

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...

)
⁵ Released in Canada only ⁶ Distributed by Trimark Home Video

Episode downloads and online streaming

Following the creation of Hulu by

, among others, in March 2007, NBC owned content, including ''Saturday Night Live'' material, was removed from

video sharing An online video platform (OVP), provided by a video hosting service, enables users to upload, convert, store and play back video content on the Internet, often via a structured, large-scale system that may generate revenue. Users will generally u ...

sites, notably

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

, to the exclusion of NBC.com and the aforementioned Hulu. A notable exception to this are

SNL Digital Shorts An ''SNL'' Digital Short is one in a series of comedic and often musical video shorts created for NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''. The origin of the Digital Short brand is credited to staff writer Adam McKay, who created content for the show in c ...

, created in conjunction by

SNL Studios SNL Studios (also known as "Saturday Night Live Studios") is a production company founded in 1997 as a joint venture between ''Saturday Night Live'' creator and producer Lorne Michaels and NBC Studios. While this venture also initially included P ...

and

The Lonely Island The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). The three ...

. Additionally, full seasons and specials have been released for sale on paid-content online media portals, including iTunes and

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential econo ...

. Free, ad-supported streaming of new ''Saturday Night Live'' episodes on NBC.com was announced on October 16, 2009. Due to the region-specific nature of Hulu, the content is not accessible outside of the United States. In mid-2009 Broadway Video Enterprises formed a partnership with Sevenload to distribute ''Saturday Night Live'' digital content to online-viewers in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, Australia, and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

References

{{Saturday Night Live

DVDs The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...