Oscar the Grouch has finally found his people. HBO and Sesame Workshop announced on Thursday a five-year partnership that will see new seasons of "Sesame Street" premiere on the premium cable channel.
The deal will make the long-running children's program available on HBO and its multiplex channels - HBO GO, HBO On Demand and HBO NOW. The deal will also allow Sesame Workshop, a non-profit educational organization, to create twice as much content as previous seasons and make the show free of charge to PBS and its member stations (after a nine-month window).
"Our new partnership with HBO represents a true winning public-private partnership model," Jeffrey D. Dunn, Sesame Workshop's CEO, said in a statement. "It provides Sesame Workshop with the critical funding it needs to be able to continue production of 'Sesame Street' and secure its nonprofit mission of helping kids grow smarter, stronger and kinder; it gives HBO exclusive pay cable and SVOD access to the nation's most important and historic educational programming; and it allows 'Sesame Street' to continue to air on PBS and reach all children, as it has for the past 45 years."
Of course, "Sesame Street" is no stranger to HBO programming. The fuzzy puppets have parodied some of HBO's most popular programs such as "Game of Thrones," "Boardwalk Empire" and "True Blood."
The partnership will also help create a "Sesame Street" Muppet spinoff series and another new original educational series for children. HBO has licensed 150 library episodes of "Sesame Street."
"We are absolutely thrilled to help secrete the future of 'Sesame Street' and Sesame Workshop's mission for the nation's kids and families," said Richard Plepler, Chairman and CEO of HBO, and Michael Lombardo, President of HBO Programming, in a joint statement. "Home Box Office is committed to bringing the most groundbreaking and creative shows to its audience. 'Sesame Street' is the most important preschool education program in the history of television."
New episodes of "Sesame Street" will begin airing on HBO in late fall 2015.
