HBOMax Pulls 200 Episodes of Sesame Street from Service, Retains First Air Rights

We all probably know Sesame Street, right? For many of us we enjoyed this program on our local PBS affiliate channel. For others, it might have been through VHS tapes, DVD’s or other media using the characters and wholesome story angle. HBOMax management apparently did not like Sesame Street though as they recently dropped about 200 episodes from their streaming library. The odd thing here is, they retained the right to first airing of new episodes – i.e., PBS must wait to air new episodes. There is more to this than meets the eye though.

I was raised on the streets, Sesame Street

Debuting in late 1969, Sesame Street is one of the longest running television series in the world. While there are over 4,000 episodes available, HBOMax only carried about 250 of them before the cutting began.

To say Sesame Street was, is, popular may be an understatement of sorts.

I remember watching the show in the early 80’s on a 13-inch black and white television. I was probably 7 or 8 (1984 or 1985) years old before I knew Big Bird was yellow.

The ax drops

Over on MSN.com, it is reported that nearly 200 episodes of Sesame Street. It is noted that these are older episodes, but no official reason was given. It is also noted that Season 53 of the popular children’s show will debut on HBOMax this fall.

It is interesting that HBOMax is dropping episodes of Sesame Street while continuing to air newer episodes.

According to The Streamable, HBOMax is looking to drop $3 billion in debt. This could be why they cut Sesame Street from their service, even though it is apparently their most popular show at this time.

Why though? I think the reason could be more than just shedding debt. It could be changes in society definitions of words – what was fine in 1976 may not be okay to say in 2022.

If it is indeed debt turning out to be the culprit then that could be tied to guest stars and singing and other audio on the episodes. This is a common problem with getting older shows on newer streaming services, often no one knows who owns the rights to various assets. When the owners are known, often the streaming service and the asset owner cannot meet eye to eye.

No matter the reason for the pulling of almost 90% of the episodes of Sesame Street, it is going to ruffle the feathers of parents. Many subscribed just for Sesame Street. It will be interesting in the coming months to see how subscribers react to this change.

Will HBOMax being the first place to air new episodes be enough to entice families to stay subscribed?

What do you think? Is Sesame Street on HBOMax a big deal for you?