‘Sesame Street’ Ending at HBO

HBO will not be looking forward to sunny days on Sesame Street. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. Discovery will not be returning its deal with HBO and Max to develop new episodes of the popular long-running educational children’s television series. Max, meanwhile, will continue to work its production company Sesame Workshop and will license episodes from Sesame Street’s library through 2027. The current 55^th season will be available on the streamer beginning next month. The decision to not renew the deal comes as Max wants to focus more on adult and family programming rather than the kids genre.

“It has been a wonderful, creative experience working with everyone at Sesame Street on the iconic children’s series and we are thrilled to be able to keep some of the library series on Max in the U.S.,” a Max spokesperson told the outlet. “As we’ve launched Max, though, and based on consumer usage and feedback, we’ve had to prioritize our focus on stories for adults and families, and so new episodes from Sesame Street, at this time, are not as core to our strategy.”

“We are excited to extend our 10-year partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery, keeping Sesame Street’s iconic library available on Max through 2027,” a spokesperson for Sesame Workshop added. “We will continue to invest in our best-in-class programming and look forward to announcing our new distribution plans in the coming months, ensuring that Sesame Street reaches as many children as possible for generations to come.”

Sesame Street has seen a few different homes since its premiere in 1969. It initially ran on NET before the network was succeeded by PBS, where Sesame Street continues to run today. The show began airing on HBO in 2016, with episodes airing on PBS a few months after they aired on HBO. In 2019, a five-year deal was made that included Max. As of now, there doesn’t seem to be any word of the show ceasing from PBS, but Sesame Workshop may just need to find another partner to take up the show, likely for streaming.

Meanwhile, Sesame Street is still as popular as ever. The series was once again represented in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day float lineup. Additionally, Elmo was a guest on Amelia Dimoldenberg’s Chicken Shop Date, where his long-standing feud with Rocco resurfaced. Since Sesame Street is still so beloved today, it shouldn’t take long for a new studio to snatch it up.