SESAME STREET Looking For New Partner After HBO Declines Deal Renewal
By Movieguide® Contributor
SESAME STREET’s partnership with HBO and Max is coming to an end after almost a decade.
In 2015, SESAME STREET struck up a deal with HBO, agreeing to let new episodes of the show premiere on the network before appearing on PBS.
Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed to Deadline that they have “declined to renew the agreement covering original episodes, but will retain select library rights” for the popular children’s show.
In short, HBO and Max will no longer air new episodes of SESAME STREET but will keep their library of previous episodes on the streaming service until 2027.
“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.,” Max said in a statement. “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.”
A spokesperson for Sesame Workshop said, “We are excited to extend our 10-year partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery, keeping SESAME STREET’s iconic library available on Max through 2027. 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.”
READ MORE: ‘WE ALWAYS WANT TO BE RELEVANT’: SESAME STREET REVEALS UPCOMING CHANGES
This non-renewal decision isn’t surprising. At a recent Wall Street conference, JB Perrette, head of streaming and video games for WBD, spoke about why the company is not prioritizing children’s content at the moment.
“There are too many other offerings out there that are highly appealing and already have user behavior fairly well established,” he said. “That’s one of the areas where we said that’s not a priority investment category for us.”
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