In a blow to childhoods across generations, Warner Bros. Discovery has announced it will not be renewing its license agreement to debut new episodes of Sesame Street on HBO and Max — offering content buyers the opportunity to snag the long-running preschool powerhouse.
HBO and Max are retaining their license to stream library episodes of the show, produced by Sesame Workshop. This part of the agreement has been renewed through 2027, and Max is set to launch the current season (No. 55!) starting in January.
A Max spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter: “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. 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.”
Sesame Street‘s new episodes have premiered on HBO since 2016, before airing on their legacy broadcaster PBS. A five-year deal bringing the new episodes to HBO Max / Max was agreed in 2019. The show is available through Max’s Cartoonito preschool hub.
Sesame Workshop will reportedly be sprucing up the evergreen show, which premiered in 1969, in an effort to “reimagine” the classic for its 56th season next year (the first available to whichever outlet snags the newly available rights). Sesame Street‘s next step will drop the “magazine” format in favor of longer narrative segments accompanied by a new animated series, Tales from 123.
[Source: The Hollywood Reporter]
