‘Sesame Street’ gets new address: Netflix

N is for … “Netflix,” apparently.

The streaming giant has announced a deal with Sesame Workshop to bring the iconic children’s show “Sesame Street” to its subscribers after the series was left without a home after a 2024 decision by HBO to exit its partnership with the show.

The agreement calls for Netflix to start carrying new episodes from the show’s 56th season starting later in 2025. It will also gain rights to 90 hours of back episodes.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though it’s likely that Netflix is paying Sesame Workshop for the rights to the show that, in turn, goes toward funding at least a part of the “Sesame Street” production costs.

In a key difference in HBO’s agreement with the show, episodes will now be released under the “same-day-same-date” strategy, making new installments available on multiple platforms on the same day.

This means PBS member stations and the PBS Kids digital platform will now get same-day access to new episodes of the new season. Previously, new episodes of the show were only available to subscribers for a set period of time before debuting on PBS proper. According to Sesame Workshop, Netflix will still get “premiere” rights to new episodes, suggesting they could be available on the streamer a handful of hours before airing on PBS stations and heading to digital.

The Netflix deal also calls for the show to switch to a different format, no longer using its familiar magazine-style format. Instead, plans call for the show to focus on a single storyline, which is occupy 11 minutes of the 30-minute footprint.

In addition to these changes, Sesame Workshop will also bring back segments such as “Cookie Monster’s Food Truck” and “Elmo’s World.” A new animated segment, “Tales from 123,” will also be added, with a focus on the happenings within the show’s iconic apartment building. 

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Sesame Workshop and HBO first partnered in 2016 under a unique agreement that allowed production costs to be at least partially covered by HBO, keeping the program on the air and available for PBS viewers for free. The show also switched to a 30-minute format, down from an hour, that same year. Warner Bros. Discovery announced it would not renew the agreement in late 2024 and Sesame Workshop said it would pursue another deal with another commercial entity.

HBO and parent Warner Bros. Discovery still hold the rights to the pre-2025 “Sesame Street” library, which will be available on its platforms, including the soon-to-be-renamed Max, through 2027. There was no word on if Netflix could potentially acquire those rights after that point or if Sesame Workshop might attempt to broker a separate deal for them.

While WBD cited a shift away from kids programming as one of the reasons behind its decision to not move forward with the Sesame Workshop deal, Netflix appears to be leaning more into the genre. 

In addition to the “Sesame Street” offering, Netflix also announced the launch of “The World of Peppa Pig,” a digital experience designed for children based on the “Peppa Pig” series. Billed as an “app,” the new offering includes puzzles, games and digital color activities, all included with no advertising and no in-app purchases as part of a Netflix membership.

Netflix also has Season 7 of “Peppa Pig” available to stream.

In the same announcement, Netflix noted it is also investing heavily in more animated content, including offerings from the Stranger Things, Motel Transylvania, Minecraft, Ghostbusters, Dr. Seuss, In Your Dreams and The Twits franchises, among others.

Netflix’s deal with Sesame Workshop also allows it to create streaming games around the “Sesame Street” brand.