I was going to call this posting “SESAME STREET Kicked to the Curb by WBD” but upon reading the news I thought that a bit harsh. Okay, the happy, furry denizens of the famed street are not immediately evicted, but HBO/Max will no longer be carrying new episodes of the series going after this coming season, the 55th for the classic children’s program. SESAME STREET has been on HBO since 20216. Older content will still be playable on Max into 2027 in an agreement with Sesame Workshop. After that, it might find its place at Disney, where, quite frankly, it is better suited and belongs or one of the other outlets.
I suspected something was up when the series was not launching its 55th season in November like it had been doing. It didn’t premiere and there was no word of what was going on. According to our source, (THR) the latest season is still happening and will land sometime in January on HBO/Max. But questions linger on why the longstanding program will no longer have a home as WBD content. Well, It appears that they are going to steer away from children’s programming in the years ahead altogether. That is nothing that WBD’s pressroom has announced, but we do know that the company has cobbled Cartoon Network, and eliminated many of its shows from Max with more to be cut in 2025. Plus, it just mastered a total new restructuring as of late, splitting some of its properties. More on that in an upcoming piece, but as for SESAME STREET, I guess people just weren’t setting the kids down in front of Max enough.
A Max quote to THR states –
“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 Workshop states –
“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.”
So, by 2027 HBO Kids programming will be phased out completely it seems. There will be no SESAME STREET nor WBD’s own IP from Cartoon Network or old Hanna-Barbera works. Feel free to bombard us in the Comments below if that disappoints or if you agree with the strategy.
