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

How Apple’s Purchase Of Startup Reveals Health Data Strategy

Harry Wang, senior research director for Parks Associates says that Apple is “known to be searching for the next $100 billion opportunity, and the gigantic healthcare industry is ripe for technology d...

One Bot To Rule Them All? Not Likely, With Apple, Google, Amazon And Microsoft Virtual Assistants

In order for a virtual helpmate to run your life, it needs to engage with the providers of all the services you rely on, from your calendar app to your Uber ride. Those providers must either partner w...

Cable companies are looking for ways to limit password sharing

Companies have already started cracking down on shared passwords. Netflix limits users to two simultaneous streams, unless they pay for an upgraded plan that allows for four. ESPN now only allows five...

Report: More than 6M U.S. consumers will use PERS devices by 2021

According to a new report from Parks Associates, more than six million people are expected to use a Personal Emergency Response System (PERS) device by 2021, nearly double the 3.36 million who are est...