HBO declines to renew contract with 'Sesame Street'

It's Sunday, so it's time for an entertainment feature. I know I wrote that I would stay away from topical posts for the rest of January, but seeing "Defund PBS" trend on X reminded me that HBO has decided not to renew its deal with Sesame Workshop, formerly Children's Television Workshop, to fund new episodes of Sesame Street and show them first on HBO and now Max before moving to PBS. Take it away CNBC!



HBO ends deal with Sesame Street: Here's why
I embedded that because it's CNBC and has an informative preview image, but it didn't have an informative description. For that, I'm turning to USA Today reporting HBO says goodbye to 'Sesame Street'.

Sesame Workshop, the non-profit behind "Sesame Street," is looking for a new distributor after HBO decided against renewing the series.

CNBC's video wasn't as informative, as it was mostly anchor banter that devolved into Joe Kernan sniping at Becky Quick's husband, making me wonder if he is a bit jealous/envious of him. I don't have to wonder if he's a bit of a jerk; he is. Add this to his views having annoyed me twice before and that's three strikes against him.

However, this isn't the immediate end of Sesame Street. Collider reported that "Max's license for episodes continues through 2027, and this month you can still see new episodes from Season 55 on Max." There is still hope beyond then, as Collider also reported "it is expected that major streamers like Netflix, Prime Video, and Apple TV+ will all want it." I'll do my best to follow through on the eventual distributor.

On the other hand, it does portend the end of the relationship I first described in CNN defends Big Bird after Ted Cruz calls one of the character's tweets 'Propaganda,' a pandemic update: "It's not just news value that's driving it." I expect CNN will no longer be defending Sesame Street after 2027. That will be up to us, along with its new distributor.