Sesame Workshop officials said it will be able to produce almost twice as much new content as in previous seasons through the HBO deal.
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The partnership will allow Sesame Workshop to significantly increase its production of Sesame Street episodes and other new programming.
Sesame Workshop, the production company of the iconic pre-school education program recently struck a deal with HBO to air Sesame Street first on their cable network for the next 5 seasons.
“Our new partnership with HBO represents a true winning public-private partnership model”, said Jeffrey D. Dunn, Sesame Workshop’s CEO in a press release. “We are delighted to be a home for this extraordinary show and helping (it) expand and build its franchise”. PBS will continue to air Sesame Street, with the new episodes available there nine months after they debut on HBO. While the HBO exclusivity may be a hurdle for some, children will still get to see even more of the Sesame Street that they know and love on PBS. Sesame Workshop will also create a new spinoff series based on the ‘Sesame Street Muppets, ‘ and will also create a new educational series for the pay network.
Sesame Street will be available exclusively on HBO for several months. It’s expected to help Sesame Workshop adapt to emerging technologies that have upended the television business in recent years.
Sesame WorkshopHBO will also license episodes of children’s series “Pinky Dinky Doo” (pictured) and the rebooted “Electric Company”. “If we are going to lean into that and start to do more, we want to associate ourselves with a brand that is consummate to ourselves”.
The move by HBO reflects another reality: Fledgling TV competitors such as Amazon and Netflix are making their own forays into children’s programming as part of their streaming services.
“This has been bubbling for some time”, said Michael Davis, author of the 2008 book “Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street“. While PBS was able to fund “Sesame Street” easily decades ago, problems have arisen in the age of On-Demand and tablet viewing. Those episodes will remain available on PBS’ children’s app and air as reruns on member stations.
Until now HBO has had some kid-friendly movies and a handful of shows.
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The deal is a significant play in the battle for streaming video.
