Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

A Muppet always pays his debts – Sesame Street finds new home behind paywall

Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street, announced a programming deal that will send Sesame Street from its longtime publicly-subsidized home on PBS to the corporate Time Warner-owned home of Westeros on HBO. According to a press release from Sesame Workshop, the deal includes:

  • a five-year order of 35 episodes per season (nearly twice its current 18 episodes per season);
  • 150 library episodes;
  • a muppet-based spinoff series;
  • an additional educational series;
  • library episodes from Sesame Workshop-produced shows Pinky Dinky Doo; and,
  • 2009 reboot of the 1970s educational series The Electric Company.

New episodes of Sesame Street will begin airing on HBO as early as this fall.

Exact financial details of the agreement were not immediately released. On the surface, this looked like a surprise move. After all, aside from movies, HBO is known primarily for its adult-themed programs like Game of Thrones, The Wire, Girls, and True Detective because FCC governance is less strict on premium television. However, the move benefits both Sesame Workshop and HBO.

From the article "A Muppet always pays his debts – Sesame Street finds new home behind paywall" by Glenn Hower.

Previously In The News

Netflix Leads OTT Service In The US

Parks Associates has released its updated top 10 list for subscription over-the-top (OTT) video services, based on number of subscribers. Netflix retained its top position while services like Sling TV...

For Sprint, T-Mobile, Plans Will Be Unlimited—And Less.

Wireless data usage is growing steadily from 2015-16 as consumers shift data-heavy activities from desktop to mobile. According to Parks Associates’ latest survey data, average monthly wireless data c...

Two out of five U.S. homes want to swap the remote for their voice

So notes a recent report from Parks Associates, which found that 43 percent of all broadband households in the U.S. that use — or plan to use — a smart TV or streaming media player want to be able to...

Do YOU give your Netflix password to friends? AI that can track down users who illegally share accounts is unveiled

Synamedia’s new AI isn’t just for small-time fee avoiders. Additional research from Parks Associates found that by 2021, credentials sharing will account for $9.9 billion of losses in pay-TV revenu...