Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

A Muppet always pays his debts – Sesame Street finds new home behind paywall

Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street, announced a programming deal that will send Sesame Street from its longtime publicly-subsidized home on PBS to the corporate Time Warner-owned home of Westeros on HBO. According to a press release from Sesame Workshop, the deal includes:

  • a five-year order of 35 episodes per season (nearly twice its current 18 episodes per season);
  • 150 library episodes;
  • a muppet-based spinoff series;
  • an additional educational series;
  • library episodes from Sesame Workshop-produced shows Pinky Dinky Doo; and,
  • 2009 reboot of the 1970s educational series The Electric Company.

New episodes of Sesame Street will begin airing on HBO as early as this fall.

Exact financial details of the agreement were not immediately released. On the surface, this looked like a surprise move. After all, aside from movies, HBO is known primarily for its adult-themed programs like Game of Thrones, The Wire, Girls, and True Detective because FCC governance is less strict on premium television. However, the move benefits both Sesame Workshop and HBO.

From the article "A Muppet always pays his debts – Sesame Street finds new home behind paywall" by Glenn Hower.

Previously In The News

Most Consumer Electronics Buyers Consider Only One Brand

The majority of consumer electronics (CE) buyers, 71%, only consider one brand when shopping, according to new consumer research from Parks Associates. In some categories the numbers are even more ove...

New RMR Opportunity: Smart Thermostat Service?

Are smart thermostats the next subsidized security business model? Yes, according to new data from Parks Associates, which reports more than 50 percent of U.S. broadband households would be willing to...

Millennials, Amazon Prime Members to Drive CE/Smart-Home Purchases this Holiday

Voice-control systems such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Apple HomePod will be popular smart-home purchases this 2017 holiday season ... but not as popular as video doorbells. IoT research firm...

Why MDUs Are Helping Expand the Smart Home Market

Parks Associates estimates that 30% (36 million households) of U.S. broadband households live in MDUs, 66% (79.5 million households) live in single-family homes and 4% (4.8 million households) report...