A major piece of TV real estate is on the open market. It’s a new episode of Sesame Street.
The long-running children’s series is looking for a new home for its original episodes after Warner Bros. Discovery chose not to renew its Sesame production deal with HBO and Max.
That said, Max will continue its deal with show producer Sesame Workshop, and the streaming service will continue to license episodes from Sesame Library through 2027. Additionally, the current season of Sesame Street, Season 55, is still available on Max. From next month.
The decision not to continue the deal for new episodes stemmed from a change in strategy that saw Max focus more on adult and family programming and less on children’s shows like Sesame. It is something.
A spokesperson for Max told The Hollywood Reporter: “It has been a wonderful and creative experience working with everyone at Sesame Street on the iconic children’s series. We hope to keep part of Max’s Library series in the US. I’m excited to do it,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “However, as we launched Max and based on consumer usage and feedback, we needed to prioritize focusing on stories for adults and families, so at this time new episodes of Sesame Street It’s not core to our strategy.”
“We are excited to extend our partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery for another 10 years and make Sesame Street’s iconic library available on Max through 2027,” a Sesame Workshop spokesperson said in a statement. Ta. “We continue to invest in best-in-class programming and look forward to announcing new distribution plans in the coming months to ensure Sesame Street reaches as many children as possible for generations to come. I am.”
Sesame Street has aired on HBO since 2016 (as a Sesame spokesperson hinted, episodes will also air on PBS several months after airing on HBO to allow for maximum reach and accessibility). ), the two companies last had a five-year agreement. In 2019, the show moved to HBO Max and Max.
The show is likely to garner significant attention from many key stakeholders, not only because of its famous name, but also because of its library of episodes spanning over 50 years. Max had removed hundreds of old episodes two years ago as part of the company’s cost-cutting measures. It is unclear whether the library contract with Max prohibits potential partners for new episodes from acquiring library episodes.
Streaming services like Netflix, Apple TV+, and Prime Video may want to power their services with perhaps the most famous children’s show of all time.
Sesame Workshop executives are aware of the end of the contract and want to keep the show fresh, with no matter what new deal the organization signs, it will be ready for next year’s Season 56, which will be its first season. We have begun efforts to “rethink” the program. Can be secured.
Sesame Street is getting a new look, ditching its long-standing “magazine”-style format and leaning into longer, story-driven segments combined with a new animated series, “Tales from 123.” The changes will be the most significant since 2016. , when the show went from an hour to 30 minutes.
“This is going to give us the opportunity to dig even deeper into the story,” Kay Wilson Stallings, Sesame Workshop’s executive vice president and chief creative development and production officer, told THR at the time. Calling the changes a “rethinking” of the show, he said: And he added that longer segments allow for more “dynamic” and “sophisticated” stories.
Featuring iconic Muppet characters such as Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird, the show debuted in 1969 and has aired on PBS since 1970.
Sesame Workshop also has a new CEO, with Sherry Westin taking over as the nonprofit’s leader earlier this year. Westin, a longtime Sesame Workshop veteran, is the second female CEO in Sesame Workshop history, following Sesame Street creator Joan Ganz Cooney.
Meanwhile, Max is withdrawing from children’s programming and focusing on its core adult content and family content, such as the upcoming Harry Potter series. A number of children’s shows, including those from fellow WBD brand Cartoon Network, will also be pulled from Max next year as part of the strategic shift.
