It was announced today that a long-running staple of PBS, Sesame Street will move to HBO beginning this fall. (Reruns will air on PBS nine months after airing on HBO). Streaming Rights appear to be a major factor.

What do all of you think of this? :confused:

Could this be the beginning of the end for PBS? I certainly hope not but I am concerned.

http://time.com/3996575/hbo-sesame-street/

Sesame will help secure HBO’s future as a streaming destination because Netflix and Amazon Prime "figured out long ago that hooking kids is key to growing their subscriber bases,” according to Victor Luckerson. He adds: "Kids’ shows are a solid investment for many reasons. Children tend to rewatch shows repeatedly, meaning a service can get a lot of mileage out of a single program. They also have no preconceptions about the “right” way to watch TV.” PLUS: The deal is something of a violation of Sesame Street’s founding principles (http://www.vox.com/2015/8/13/9149091/sesame-street-hbo-pbs), and Sesame Workshop needed to find a new revenue source (http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/sesame-street-hbo-sesame-workshop-1201569728/).

so does this mean the street itself is moving from the urban setting to the hills?

They can move Barney and Friends over to HBO
WITH MY BLESSINGS!!! :lol: :rofl: :rotflmao: :brent

http://mashable.com/2015/08/14/sesame-street-hbo-analysis/

Turns out PBS only funded 10% of production costs. The show was primarily funded by licensing income, which had fallen sharply. "We had a huge production deficit,” says Sesame Workshop CEO Jeff Dunn. "Financially, we had been incurring losses for a number of years,” he added, pointing to a sea change of viewership. So Sesame had to find a new funding source, one that would allow to remain free on PBS. And only HBO fit the bill. PLUS: Kids won’t notice the change (http://time.com/3997903/sesame-street-hbo-inequality) -- but parents will, and this is like poor people receiving "secondhand goods." (http://gawker.com/sesame-street-teaches-poor-kids-educational-tv-isnt-fo-1723980319)

Maybe HBO can have "Elmo's World"! That was the cash-cow and now Elmo has basically taken over "Sesame Street", but now not as much!

This is outright horrible news. I know I may get backlash from some that say I'm an old (I'm only 32) fuddy-duddy, but I'm just speaking from my heart.

I wonder if HBO will try and make it more risqué for publicity and to try and get more ratings. Taking a much-loved and respected children's show and lumping it together with the likes of The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Games of Thrones, etc...is just downright disgusting.

Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico) and Oscar the Grouch together for a skit would be classic though.

Double Post

"Sesame Street's" Sonia Manzano on HBO Move: "Show Still Mirrors the Society that We Live In"
by Hilary Lewis
8/25/15


"Sesame Street's" Sonia Manzano is leaving the long-running children's series after 44 years playing Maria. But the actress seems at peace with the show's move to HBO.

"Sesame Street has always reflected the times it exists in," Manzano said on Tuesday's "CBS This Morning". "It came out of the '60s and the civil rights movement. And it was a very idealistic show. I think its move to HBO reflects that it is still mirroring the society that we live in. So if I'm going to criticize anything and I'm not I would criticize the times that we live in and not the show."





Manzano, who won 15 Emmys during her time on "Sesame Street", announced earlier this summer that she wouldn't appear on the children's show next season. Manzano first took on the role of Maria in 1971 when she was just 21, becoming one of the first Latina women on television.

The actress reflected on her career on the CBS morning show, which she stopped by to promote her new memoir Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx. The actress said that she also has a children's picture book set to be released in September and plans to do more writing along with continuing to "try and help kids in whatever arena is afforded to me."





After the show aired a minute-long intro of her "Sesame Street" highlights, Manzano said, "Thank you for flashing my life before my eyes and everyone else's eyes this morning. There are moments in those clips that I don't even remember shooting."

She does remember her first time working opposite a Muppet, recalling an incident with the Frank Oz-puppeted Grover in which she kept looking down at Oz instead of at Grover.

"He said in Grover's voice, 'Don't look at that man down there,'" Manzano said.



Manzano also shared that her favorite Muppet is Oscar the Grouch.

"I think he's very nuanced, and when I'm talking to him, I can't tell if he's 8 years old or 48 years old," she said.





Earlier this month, it was announced that HBO is partnering with "Sesame Street" to offer the next five seasons of the children's show on the premium network's platforms, with new episodes set to air on HBO in the fall. PBS will air the new episodes nine months later.

The move, which boosts HBO's streaming service's children's programming as Netflix and Amazon have bolstered their offerings recently, also gives Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that produces the show, a lifeline.



The organization has operated at a loss in recent years, The Hollywood Reporter revealed last week. PBS reportedly pays a license fee that covers roughly 10 percent of the show's $40 million production cost.

DVD sales were once responsible for much of the show's revenue, but those have dropped in recent years with the growth of video streaming services.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sesame-streets-sonia-manzano-hbo-817590

The question is, will HBO get a tax write off for the show - SW is a no profit, and are the also now technically an underwriter when it airs on PBS?

http://tvline.com/2015/11/24/sesame-street-hbo-premiere-date-new-theme-song/

The updated theme will have the “same melody,” but it will include an “upbeat update.” Additionally, episodes will be 30 minutes in length, Cookie Monster will get his own “Smart Cookie” segment, and actress Suki Lopez is joining the show as a "young bilingual Hispanic woman” named Nina.

With Sesame Street moving to HBO and a reboot of Teletubbies on Nick Jr soon, what's to tell anymore?

They can move Barney and Friends over to HBO
WITH MY BLESSINGS!!! :lol: :rofl: :rotflmao: :brent

They are rebooting Barney and Friends next year- but it won't be on HBO

Wouldn't be funny if Paulie Walnuts and or Sil Dante make an appearance in Sesame Street and ask "Hey what are you doing' in this neighborhood???"

Reading the article, HBO is going to give PBS the rerun of the episode nine months after original airing.

Why not have children's programming on HBO? My only complaint when I first heard of this deal is that poor children would not have access to the show because HBO is a "premium" channel costing extra money. This show taught me a lot as a small child and was a great tutor of knowledge. Hell, I learned as a child how to count to 10 in Spanish from a place where there were basically no Spanish speakers whatsoever. Ergo, some child in Spanish Harlem in New York City in 1970 is learning English when it is not spoken in the home.

Barney & Friends and Teletubbies are being revived! It's amazing that revivals are so prominent today! Flattering and creepy!

I hear that too. That Sesame Street is moving to HBO. My first thought was the show is on the same network that shows Game of Thrones and that is not the tamest show on the air. I would hate to have my 3 year old bumped into Game of Thrones and see a half nude woman or a sword welding event. Yes the funding of PBS has sure changed.

Why I think Sesame Street moved to HBO is I think Sesame Workshop's way for them to merge with HBO and try to create an HBO channel full of educational programming for children but if this were to happen it would make PBS lose it's children's programming and have competition with all the other kids networks. But there are several reasons why HBO chose to air Sesame Street and these might be the reasons,
A. Money
B. A wider audience of the new generation of toddlers and babies
C. To keep Sesame Street on the air to keep it from being cancelled
But what's shocking about it is if HBO could get Sesame Street why don't Sesame Workshop add reruns of the original The Electric Company or 321 Contact to HBO's lineup. But with the retirement of Carroll Spinney this year and the death of Jerry Nelson years ago Sesame Street should have a great finale and end sometime in the future but I don't think it's possible because a lot of toddlers still love the show and have learned a great deal of counting and their ABCs from it
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