Sesame Street is looking for a new home. The beloved children’s television series has been broadcasting new episodes on HBO and Max before appearing on PBS a few months later. However, the current output deal will be allowed to run out its time and not be renewed by Warner Bros. Discovery it was revealed today. Sesame Street will now be looking for a new partner for distribution moving forward.
The End of an Era
While this is the end of this output deal, it won’t be the end of the relationship between Sesame Workshop and Max. Max will continue to license episodes of Sesame Street through 2027. The current season of Sesame Street, the 55th season, will be appearing on Max starting next month.
Warner Bros. Discovery opted to not renew the distribution deal for Sesame Street as it focuses more on adult and family programming. Moving forward there will be less of a focus on children’s programming.
“It has been a wonderful, creative experience working with everyone at Sesame Street on the iconic children’s series and we are thrilled to be able to keep some of the library series on Max in the U.S.,” a spokesperson for Max told The Hollywood Reporter. “As we’ve launched Max though and based on consumer usage and feedback, we’ve had to prioritize our focus on stories for adults and families, and so new episodes from Sesame Street, at this time, are not as core to our strategy.”
“We are excited to extend our 10-year partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery, keeping Sesame Street’s iconic library available on Max through 2027,” a spokesperson for Sesame Workshop said. “We will continue to invest in our best-in-class programming and look forward to announcing our new distribution plans in the coming months, ensuring that Sesame Street reaches as many children as possible for generations to come.”
Looking Forward
With Sesame Street now looking for a new distribution home, there are multiple other streamers that might be interested in picking up the show. Streamers like Netflix, Apple TV+, or Prime Video could be looking to add more to their libraries. Max pulled hundreds of Sesame Street episodes a couple of years ago to save money. It isn’t known if these will be available as part of a future deal with Sesame Workshop. Apple TV+ already has invested in children’s programming with puppets and currently is the home of Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock from The Jim Henson Company. Another potential home for Sesame Street could be Disney+. Disney’s streamer also has plenty of children-centric programming in its library. Disney also owns The Muppets and may like the idea of having all of The Muppets in one location. Especially since Sesame Street is one of the most well-known programs of all time.
Whoever ends up distributing future episodes of Sesame Street will be getting a new approach to the show. In the 56th season, the series will be moving away from the “magazine” format that the show has had for years and instead moving toward longer narrative-led segments, paired with a new animated series Tales From 123. This will be the biggest change to the format of the show since it went from a 1-hour program to 30 minutes in 2016.
Where do you think should be the future home of Sesame Street? What do you think about it ending its run with Warner Bros. Discovery? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
