Image: Max
After next season, Max will no longer be the place to watch new episodes of beloved children’s show Sesame Street first, The Hollywood Reporter reports. Platform owner Warner Bros. Discovery has decided not to renew its HBO and Max deal with producer Sesame Workshop, which means new episodes of the series will need to find a new home.
Sesame Street is one of several shows for children on Max, but I find that other streaming services such as Disney Plus, Netflix, and even YouTube Kids have more content for parents to play for kids. According to THR, ending its deal for new Sesame Street episodes is part of a change in strategy to focus on adult and broader family content, such as the upcoming Harry Potter series for 2026.
The company is still going to keep current episodes streaming through 2027. Last year, Sesame Workshop executive Kay Wilson Stalling told The Hollywood Reporter that the upcoming 56th season (season 55 will be available on Max starting next month) would be a “reimagining” of the show with longer narrative segments and more sophisticated stories.
Sesame Street moved over to HBO in 2016, where new episodes aired before eventually making their way to PBS for free viewing months later. At the time, you could watch the show on demand via the long-gone HBO Go and HBO Now apps, and when Max launched, it picked up the timed-exclusive streaming deal. But a few years removed from investing heavily in kids’ programming and dropping the “HBO” from Max to become more welcoming as a service parents are comfortable with their kids using, now Warner Bros. Discovery is moving forward with a very different plan.