Forty-six years into it's run, Sesame Street has been grabbed by HBO for the next five years. The new shows will "air" on HBO during a window of exclusivity and then be made available to PBS at the expiry of that window.
I'm sure there is some kind of economic justification for this move. We all know by now, in this country especially, money talks. But in the following excerpt from the Wikipedia entry for Sesame Street, we're reminded of one of it's founding principles:
"The creators of Sesame Street and their researchers formulated both cognitive and affective goals for the show. Initially, they focused on cognitive goals, while addressing affective goals indirectly, in the belief that doing so would increase children's self-esteem and feelings of competency.[32][33] One of their primary goals was preparing very young children for school, especially children from low-income families,[34] using modeling,[35] repetition,[36] and humor[29]to fulfill these goals."
Sesame Street was created to help teach children from low-income families. I know that cable TV is damn near ubiquitous these days, but not premium cable. Cable charges anywhere from fifteen dollars a month or more to access these premium channels, and HBO is the premier premium channel.
This move just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Another hard lesson learned from the folks of Sesame Street.
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