‘Sesame Street’ Secures New Distribution Deals with Netflix and PBS Amid Financial Challenges

After a challenging period, the iconic children’s program ‘Sesame Street’ has reason to celebrate a new chapter.

The 56-year-old educational series has finalized a fresh distribution agreement with Netflix, alongside a separate deal with PBS, announced this Monday.

This arrangement means that new episodes of ‘Sesame Street’ will become accessible to Netflix’s over 300 million subscribers worldwide, significantly expanding its audience. Additionally, new episodes will premiere simultaneously on PBS, marking the first time in nearly a decade that the public broadcaster will air fresh content from the show. These agreements are set to commence later this year.

The new deals provide a critical boost to Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind ‘Sesame Street,’ which has been grappling with financial strain. Earlier this year, the organization reduced its workforce by roughly 20 percent due to the loss of key grants and, more importantly, the expiration of a lucrative distribution contract with HBO.

Since 2015, HBO had paid Sesame Workshop between $30 million and $35 million annually for new episodes. However, with Warner Bros. Discovery shifting away from children’s programming amid its own financial pressures, the HBO agreement was allowed to lapse.

The financial terms of the new Netflix deal have not been disclosed. Nonetheless, Sesame Workshop leadership has cautioned staff that revenue from upcoming distribution contracts will be substantially lower than under the previous HBO arrangement.

In a message to employees, Sesame Workshop’s chief executive highlighted the positive aspect of reaching a much larger audience but also acknowledged the need to explore new revenue streams given the dramatically changed economics of content distribution in recent years.