After almost fifty years of being broadcast on public television, iconic children's television program Sesame Street will be moving to premium cable network HBO. Before you start applauding that the show no longer needs to abide by language or sexual censorship, HBO plans to retain the same high bar of excellence Sesame Street has always held while expanding the brand even more.
Deadline reports that the deal moves Sesame Street to HBO for the next five years with new episodes able to be broadcast on PBS for free after a 9 month window. Upon premiering, new episodes of the series will be available on HBO, and HBO NOW, giving the giant more fodder to convince people to subscribe.
Here are more details about the deal.
In addition to the next five seasons of Sesame Street, Sesame Workshop will produce a Sesame Street Muppet spinoff series, as well as develop a new original educational series for children. HBO has also licensed over 150 library episodes of Sesame Street. HBO will be the exclusive, first-run subscription television distribution partner for Sesame Street and the new series. HBO will have the right to air all series in both English and Spanish. All new series will also be made available to PBS and its member stations after the first window. Episodes of Sesame Street will continue to be made available, uninterrupted, as part of the PBS KIDS service on PBS member stations.
HBO used to have several original series for children like Fraggle Rock but has switched in recent years to more adult fare. It is unknown if Sesame Street will stay with HBO beyond the five year agreement, but the financial backing the premium network has could definitely expand projects from Sesame Workshop and Jim Henson Productions that have been unable to garner public funding.
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