For years humor-impaired right-wingers have worried about the nature of the relationship between Bert and Ernie on “Sesame Street.” Now there’s a truly strange relationship for them to worry about.
“Sesame Street,” the children’s program that’s been a jewel in the PBS crown for 46 years, is taking a walk on the wild side with HBO, known for adult-themed outre dramas like “True Detective” and “Game of Thrones” and risque comedies like “Girls.”
“Sesame Street” needs the money. HBO likes classy productions and wants to make inroads into children’s television to compete with Netflix and Amazon, which have moved aggressively into children’s television with original content and rerun acquisitions, including “Sesame Street.”
This change in viewing accessibility raises the question of what it will mean for children — or their parents — who have faithfully kept tuned to PBS so they could get some quality broadcasting.
Some in the industry say the change may have little influence on kids’ viewing habits. Jeff Dunn, chief executive of Sesame Workshop — which until 2000 was known as the Children’s Television Workshop — says two-thirds of children now have their first experience with “Sesame Street” through video-on-demand and streaming services. Now they’ll need HBO for that.
According to The Wall Street Journal, families without HBO or premium viewing services will be able to watch new episodes of “Sesame Street” on their traditional PBS stations nine months after they have aired on HBO. The agreement means that beginning in the fall, HBO will become the first place new episodes of the children’s classic will air.
It will also allow Sesame Workshop to nearly double the number of new episodes of “Sesame Street” it makes annually, from 18 to 35, and to produce a spinoff and another educational series for the premium television service and its online platforms, HBO Now and HBO Go. Those productions could wind up airing on PBS, too.
Sesame Workshop’s Dunn said it was clear when he became CEO of the nonprofit last year that the economics were not working. Sesame Workshop was operating at a deficit, with PBS contributing only 10 percent of the revenue and the rest coming from licensing and DVD income.
When the show started in 1969, kids watched 27 hours of network TV each week. Today’s children get an increasingly greater share of their entertainment from online platforms. This caused income from Workshop’s DVDs to shrink. Dunn began looking for a partner with deep pockets.
PBS and its member stations will get episodes of “Sesame Street” for free. For its part, PBS says the new arrangement will not reduce its commitment to children’s programming.
So while getting to “Sesame Street” may require a few new turns, kids and their parents can still count on it being “a sunny day, sweepin’ those clouds away.”
The above editorial appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Monday.
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