
‘Sesame Street’ to Air First on HBO for Next 5 Seasons - uptown
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/business/media/sesame-street-heading-to-hbo-in-fall.html
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josu
The news is not that they will have the exclusive rights for 9 months. After
all, kids can watch the same episode over and over and not get tire of it. The
important thing is this:

>The “Sesame Street” episodes now available on Amazon and Netflix will no
longer be on those outlets because of the HBO deal.

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jchendy
Especially noteworthy, given this:

>About two-thirds of children now watch “Sesame Street” on demand and do not
tune in to PBS to watch the show.

Will the episodes be available for streaming anywhere other than HBO?

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whafro
We currently stream episodes via PBS, so I'd been assuming (perhaps errantly)
that this arrangement would continue.

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jchendy
That seems plausible. I'd expect that HBO considers PBS much less threatening
than Netflix.

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GeorgeOrr
This article, and the details behind what is driving the changes for Sesame
Street, are a good illustration of the tectonic changes coming to the
industry.

Combined with HBO Now available without Cable, availability of services like
Sling, and the recent financial troubles in the cable industry it is an
interesting time. Cord-cutting is no long an if, it's a how quickly.

Or am I reading too much into this? Wishful thinking?

~~~
twoodfin
But what does it mean to "cut the cord"? If your IP connection is still coming
from Comcast/Verizon/Time Warner, you've still got a cord and a corresponding
bill.

The real question to me is whether the cable providers can turn $150 "Triple
Play" (phone/internet/TV) bills into $150 IP-only bills. If I were them, I'd
keep prices on the 'next generation' (100Mbit+) of IP-only plans very close to
those that include traditional TV service, and offer bundles of discounted
(unmetered?) third party services. "Cutting the cord" won't save you very much
money as long as there's minimal competition in the physical infrastructure.

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GeorgeOrr
I never took the "cord" in cord cutting to be quite so literal.

What I hope (and of course it's not by any means a done deal) is that the
content producers are going to be coming out from under the control of those
who own the last mile distribution.

That's why net neutrality is so important. If HBO has to ask permission of
Time Warner for me to access HBO Now then we've gained nothing. With it, we
can expect more competition, variety and choice of content.

I hope.

~~~
jedberg
I know where you were going with your example, but amusingly you chose Time
Warner, who actually owns HBO. Which illustrates a totally different problem
in the IPtv world. :)

In your example a better choice would be Comcast.

~~~
narrowrail
Time Warner Inc. (the content company that owns HBO, Warner Bros., etc.) and
Time Warner Cable (in the process of being acquired by Charter) are 2
_separate_ companies, so his example was actually fine.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Warner_Cable](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Warner_Cable)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Warner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Warner)

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julianozen
This is an interesting social class issue. 3 years ago, Mitt Romney said he
wanted to defund PBS.

Today we see a show on public broadcast selling the exclusivity rights to HBO.
Kids whose parents pay for HBO now get to see sesame street before the kids
who cant afford it. In fact, those kids may even be too old by the time the
episodes they would want to see get widely distributed.

Today's episode brought to you by the letters H B and O and PAYING viewers
like you.

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lost_name
> In fact, those kids may even be too old by the time the episodes they would
> want to see get widely distributed.

I don't think kids around sesame street age care much about which particular
episode they're watching. Probably not a lot of water cooler discussion the
next day.

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julianozen
I agree, but I feel like thats not really the point of making a quality child
education show sponsored by the government

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ezarowny
I'm really looking forwards to a gritty Vice episode covering Oscar the Grouch
and homelessness on Sesame Street.

~~~
jegutman
Reminds me of this from Dave Chapelle:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLdim8hWR44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLdim8hWR44)

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grandalf
I watched sesame street a few years ago and it had devolved into a pretty
annoying cartoon with lots of loud noises and sound effects. There was still a
physical set and some human actors, but each scene segued into the cartoons.
Horrible.

Let's hope it goes back to being a show with realistic life-size puppets and
human cast members who interact/sing with them.

~~~
stinkytaco
I started rewatching Sesame Street a few years ago when I had a child. I was
actually amazed how good it continues to be. Compared to what else kids have
access to, its very level, accessible and continues to be good for adults to
share with them. I assumed I would approach it as an adult and think it "was
better when I was a kid", but it really is still excellent, in my opinion.

It's incorporated more animated segments and has some frenetic pieces, but re-
watching some old shows reveals that as well (go watch the pinball counting
song again to see what I mean). It's staying relevant by copying its
competition while staying high quality.

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diogenescynic
HBO and Netflix competing is good for us all.

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rquantz
Public television is not about competition

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protomyth
Actually, yes it is. Watching public television is an activity that takes
time. Groups compete for your time and attention. Public TV asks for donations
which people could use on other things. Competition isn't a dirty word, its
how we live our limited lives.

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rquantz
Public television is explicitly and intentionally set apart from competition
with for-profit television. The original intention was that public programming
should not have to be a commercial success in order to continue to be funded.
Inserting "competition" __into a discussion about public television makes it
seem as though it should be subject to the same "market forces" __as for-
profit television. It should not be, and attempts to make it "run like a
business" are ideologically driven.

 __I use scare quotes to emphasize that "competition" and "market forces" are
human creations, not laws of physics as the hypercapitalists would have you
believe, and their application is a choice.

~~~
protomyth
I can watch TV, go ride a bike, go on a hike, or go back to sleep. Public
television, and any other optional activity, is in competition for my time and
attention. We only have so much time to spend (welcome to our linear
existence) and we cannot get more just because its public television. It has
to compete.

Competition is not a dirty or scary word. It is a description of how we
evaluate things to spend our limited time with.

Also, the idea that Public TV doesn't have to compete is just plain wrong. It
competes with every other budget item in the federal budget. It has to provide
value or it will be cut. How we judge its value is up to the individual.

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ewzimm
Looking forward to the development of "Game of Chairs" into a spinoff series.

[http://youtu.be/dhWUFXvaZjo](http://youtu.be/dhWUFXvaZjo)

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gweinberg
Wasn't "Fraggle Rock" essentially Sesame Street on HBO?

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cmiles74
Jim Henson was central to the creation of Fraggle Rock and a branch of his
media company was wholly responsible for it.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraggle_Rock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraggle_Rock)

Sesame Street is a bit different, I believe he was invited to add the Muppets
to the show and that these segments were very popular. Still, he wasn't
responsible for the show as a whole and didn't have the same role as he and
his company had in Fraggle Rock.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street)

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orionblastar
Well some of the original episodes got rated R:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/magazine/18wwln-
medium-t.h...](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/magazine/18wwln-
medium-t.html)

I heard that PBS had to edit some of the episodes so they don't get the R
rating. On HBO they can show shows with an R rating. Then edit them so they
are PG or G later on.

Little slips like Cookie Monster smoking and eating a pipe, a lost girl going
into Mr. Hooper's apartment because he has milk and cookies there teaching
kids to go with strangers, stuff like that.

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oneJob
The first presidential debate is behind a paywall on Fox. Now Sesame Street is
behind a paywall on HBO. I mean, Sesame Street!!!! Is nothing sacred?

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nhf
Sesame Workshop gets more resources and episodes, PBS gets to stop paying for
Sesame Street. I don't think it's all that bad. It's not like it's going off
the air on PBS any time soon.

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ohitsdom
I don't think Sesame Street is as huge for kids now as it used to be. There's
just so much more content available now, including on Netflix. Still good for
HBO, but not a reason for most parents to switch or become customers.

~~~
whafro
The thing that makes Sesame Street a reason for parents to switch or become
customers is that it's actually a show that's tolerable (I'd suggest actually
"enjoyable") for parents. A pretty large percentage of the content in Sesame
Street is over the heads of its core audience, but hits a bullseye for
parents.

Why does this matter? Much of the widely-covered "screen time" research has
been of pretty poor quality, but there's some indication that the perceived or
observed harm from screen time comes in part due to a lack of personal
interaction while kids are sitting in front of a TV, especially as TV is used
as a babysitter. With parents watching, laughing, talking to their kids about
what they're seeing, not only might it mitigate that harm, but it certainly
reinforces the actual educational content in the program.

My wife, a developmental pediatrician and neuroscientist, has a rule of thumb:
it's "bad" screen time if you're not paying enough attention to what your kid
is watching to follow the story yourself. Sesame Street is entertaining enough
to make it easy to watch.

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brudgers
I guess the silver lining is that Fred Rogers didn't live to see it.

