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

Amazon Prime Improves Its Customer Retention Rate

It's also comparable to the 9% annual churn for Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), which tops all streaming services, and much better than the 50% rate for Hulu, according to research from Parks Associates. Aside...

Parks Associates: 60% of New Security Systems Are Self-Installed

Data from Parks Associates’ recent DIY security research suggests a sharp rise in self-installed security systems in the last few years. From the article "Parks Associates: 60% of New Security Syst...

2018 Market Report: Security and the Smart Home Installation Channel

More than 60% of installing dealers now report that DIY systems are biting into demand for their services, according to the fifth annual Residential Security Market Report (2018) from the research fir...

New RMR Opportunity: Smart Thermostat Service?

Are smart thermostats the next subsidized security business model? Yes, according to new data from Parks Associates, which reports more than 50 percent of U.S. broadband households would be willing to...