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

TV's next big experiment: 'choose your own adventure'

Viewers vote on the actions of the protagonist -- leading to one of seven endings -- using a smartphone app while the movie keeps rolling seamlessly for between 70 and 90 minutes. "This type of con...

Smart Home Goal: No Doorbell Left Behind

In a second-quarter 2016 survey of on-line households, research company Parks Associates found that 50 percent of smart-doorbell owners use the devices to see who's at the door when they're not home,...

Pay TV Soars In Spanish-Language Homes

Among bilingual Spanish-language households with broadband internet, 89 percent subscribe to a pay-TV service, according to a new report from Parks Associates. That compares to 84 percent of all U.S....

Nearly 80% Of US Spanish-Language Households Subscribe To OTT Video Services

“While pay-TV penetration has declined among US broadband households, adoption has remained steady among Spanish-bilingual households over the past few years. Cord cutting does not have the same impac...