HBO welcomes you to 'Sesame Street' beginning Jan. 16
On Jan. 16, new episodes of “Sesame Street” will arrive first on HBO. To celebrate the iconic show’s move from PBS, the Time Warner channel has rolled out a new “Kids” section on its mobile apps, according to TechCrunch.
In addition to “Sesame Street,” the new section features “The Electric Company” and “Pinky Dinky Doo.” All three shows arrive on HBO thanks to a wide-ranging deal with Sesame Workshop first announced in 2015.
Sesame Workshop lost $7.4 million in fiscal 2015, which forced its management team to look for a distribution partner. As part of the deal, there will be 35 new “Sesame Street” episodes per year, instead of the previous 18. After the shows run for nine months only on HBO, they’ll be made freely available to PBS, where the program had aired for 45 years. The deal with HBO runs through 2020.
Besides having a new home, “Sesame Street’s” look is changing with its move, according to The New York Times:
Big Bird’s nest has moved to a tree. Elmo has moved from an apartment into a brownstone. His best friend, Abby Cadabby, loves her new community garden. And while Oscar the Grouch still makes a trash can his home, he now pops up through an underground tunnel of connecting recycling and compost bins.
Dolly Faibyshev for “The New York Times”
No choice
As someone who grew up watching “Sesame Street,” I find its move to HBO bittersweet. The move probably saved the show. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford an HBO subscription, meaning that some kids will miss out, at least initially. Old episodes of “Sesame Street” will continue airing on PBS.
