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‘Sesame Street’ streaming exclusively on HBO Max raises accessibility concerns

‘I’m so sad for all the kids who will grow up without the show.’

Photo of Tiffanie Drayton

Tiffanie Drayton

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Sesame Street is about to get an exclusive home on WarnerMedia’s new streaming service HBO Max, and many are not happy about it.

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According to Deadline, a new five-year contract between Sesame Workshop and WarnerMedia will relocate the show’s entire 50-year library online–about 4,500 episodes. HBO Max has also ordered five new 35-episode seasons of the beloved children’s educational show. The new projects will include four new live-action and animated series, an animated Sesame Street spinoff, and annual specials.

Back in 2015, the show moved to HBO after the company got a contract to exclusively host its new content. According to the old contract–which is about to expire after the upcoming 50th season of the show–new episodes of Sesame Street were only available on HBO for the first nine months after they aired, but made their way back to PBS after that period. The new contract will be similar, but it is unclear how long the streaming service will maintain exclusivity rights before episodes become available for free.

Not long after the announcement was made, people began pointing out that the show was originally created to give all children access to fun, quality, and educational television for free. And now that it will be exclusively streaming on HBO Max, a subscription to which costs $14.99 a month, accessibility concerns are being raised.

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“There are so many upsetting things about this but most of all, Sesame Street was literally created as a supplement for education and social and emotional development for poor kids who didn’t have access to better education in public schools,” Twitter user @literElly wrote.

https://twitter.com/literElly/status/1180128483890077696

Director Dominick Evans wrote that their family was never able to afford HBO but still grew up watching Sesame Street because it was free. “I’m so sad for all the kids who will grow up without the show,” Evans tweeted.
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https://twitter.com/dominickevans/status/1179903168068673537

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https://twitter.com/upulie/status/1179935954296926208

The Intercept writer Sam Biddle said the move “sucks” and is “gross.” “We all wonder why little kids are watching so much free garbage on youtube,” Biddle tweeted.

https://twitter.com/samfbiddle/status/1179865840985858048

Another equated the move to gentrification. “Gentrifying Sesame Street into a ‘renewed’ brownstone neighborhood where the black kids who grew up on the show would get the cops called on them is just *chef’s kiss,*” Twitter user @ztsamudzi wrote.

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https://twitter.com/ztsamudzi/status/1180334373150683136

Another pointed out that similar criticism when HBO bought Sesame Street was warranted, as proven by this new development. “Well, fuck the kids now, I guess,” Twitter user @K_trendacosta wrote.

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HBO Max is expected to launch in April of 2020.

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The Daily Dot