“Sesame Street” is hitting the market, as Warner Bros. Discovery has opted not to renew its deal for new episodes of the long-running children’s program.
Max will continue to license episodes from the “Sesame Street” library through 2027, but the upcoming 55th season of the show will be the last to debut on the streamer. It was previously announced that the 56th season, expected sometime in 2025, would be “reimagined” with more of a narrative focus.
The decision to not renew the deal comes as Max pivots away from children’s content and more toward adult and family programming.
“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,” said a spokesperson for Max 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.”
“Sesame Street” had aired on HBO from 2016 to 2020. In 2019, Max and “Sesame Street” producer Sesame Workshop struck a five-year deal that moved the series to HBO Max, which became Max.
Before HBO, “Sesame Street” had been on PBS since 1970. (Episodes still air on the public broadcaster several months after streaming on Max.) Warner’s pact with Sesame Workshop, inked in 2015, was critical to “Sesame Street’s” survival, as children’s viewing habits shifted and DVD and home video sales dwindled. Moving behind the HBO paywall helped “Sesame Street” make up for that lost revenue stream.
“We are excited to extend our 10-year partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery, keeping ‘Sesame Street’s’ iconic library available on Max through 2027,” a spokesperson for Sesame Workshop said in a statement. “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.”
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news.
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