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.
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?
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.
It's not just cord-cutting, however, this changes Sesame Street's relationship with PBS, and over-the-air broadcast service. The group Sesame Street needs to reach the most is not cord-cutters, it's people without an Internet connection. Low income and low literacy families are what Sesame Street was created to reach, that's why it's a show designed to appeal to both kids and adults. Certainly with a show like Sesame Street having the newest episodes is not necessarily critical (though they have done some good topical pieces in the past, the episode where a Hurricane hits Sesame Street comes to mind), so it's not a major issue in this case.
Needless to say I was happy to see that there would continue to be some relationship with PBS, and I can't emphasize enough how important I find over-the-air public programming (both TV and radio).
EDIT: To be clear, I do not necessarily think this is a bad deal. I think the STW produces great content and anything that helps them continue to produce quality non-commercial content is great. I just hope that content continues to be available for free on over-the-air broadcasts in the long term.
No I think you're right. The one big thing that has yet to really move online is sports. Once I can watch all the games I want online, cable is going away
Right now, the biggest protection for cable is the insane license agreements with layers of bureaucracy. Having done contract work for three network TV shows, its interesting as cable providers license from the networks which licenses from the TV show. Three's a reason why some Hulu broadcasts are delayed and some shows have full seasons, some the last X, some entire series. There's no real standard for who owns the rights to what.
Big Cable won't go down swinging, sports still sell TV subscriptions and we're seeing the evolution like DishAnywhere. More than likely, we'll see package services from ContentOverIP with more fragmentation: Service A provides TV Shows from Networks A B & C but no live broadcasts. Service B provides live broadcasts from A & C and on demand and so forth. I doubt Al La Carte will happen.
I think it's interesting that you and others are using the term "industry" here. Sesame Street is made by the non-profit Children's Television Workshop and it has always aired on Public Television. It was founded specifically with the intention of not being industry.
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.
> 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.
No issue at all. Kids are born every day; pick up watching Sesame Street at essentially random points. It makes no difference when you begin watching. If HBO 'leads' free TV, the kids will never know and never suffer any disadvantage.
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.
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.
Yes, but this is a further step to the "cableization" of internet tv. It's really getting to the point where it's not much different than cable. Each network has exclusive shows, so they are not competing on customer experience of the streaming service (such as interface, recommendations, etc.), but on content. This is not necessarily a problem, but it dilutes what some expected from cord-cutting. Now if I want a breadth of content, I need to subscribe to Netflix, HBO, Hulu and possibly some smaller services. That adds up and isn't really as "a la carte" as we wanted, considering the small number of competitors in the space.
Again, it's not bad, per se, but it's not a smorgasbord of content in one service with one interface.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
[+] [-] josu|10 years ago|reply
>The “Sesame Street” episodes now available on Amazon and Netflix will no longer be on those outlets because of the HBO deal.
[+] [-] jchendy|10 years ago|reply
>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?
[+] [-] vikramhaer|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GeorgeOrr|10 years ago|reply
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|10 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] stinkytaco|10 years ago|reply
Needless to say I was happy to see that there would continue to be some relationship with PBS, and I can't emphasize enough how important I find over-the-air public programming (both TV and radio).
EDIT: To be clear, I do not necessarily think this is a bad deal. I think the STW produces great content and anything that helps them continue to produce quality non-commercial content is great. I just hope that content continues to be available for free on over-the-air broadcasts in the long term.
[+] [-] chipgap98|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fuzzywalrus|10 years ago|reply
Big Cable won't go down swinging, sports still sell TV subscriptions and we're seeing the evolution like DishAnywhere. More than likely, we'll see package services from ContentOverIP with more fragmentation: Service A provides TV Shows from Networks A B & C but no live broadcasts. Service B provides live broadcasts from A & C and on demand and so forth. I doubt Al La Carte will happen.
[+] [-] rquantz|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] debacle|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] julianozen|10 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] lost_name|10 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] JoeAltmaier|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ezarowny|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jegutman|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grandalf|10 years ago|reply
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|10 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] vernie|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] diogenescynic|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stinkytaco|10 years ago|reply
Again, it's not bad, per se, but it's not a smorgasbord of content in one service with one interface.
[+] [-] rquantz|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ewzimm|10 years ago|reply
http://youtu.be/dhWUFXvaZjo
[+] [-] gweinberg|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cmiles74|10 years ago|reply
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
[+] [-] Karunamon|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] orionblastar|10 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] oneJob|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nhf|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ohitsdom|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] whafro|10 years ago|reply
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.
[+] [-] brudgers|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] comrade1|10 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] dang|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pavel_lishin|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sandyarmstrong|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DonQuixote1000|10 years ago|reply
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