HBO Becomes the Way to Get to Sesame Street

Here is a link to New York Times' article on Sesame Street's new home at HBO.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/business/media/sesame-street-heading-to-hbo-in-fall.html

Sesame Street has been with PBS for 45 years, educating children through laughs and imagination. The problem I have is that HBO is not included in basic cable packages, and has to be added on for an additional charge in order to view their programing—for some families, this is not an option because of their budgets. Some may argue that HBO is depriving children of the educational experience that Sesame Street has given to generations of children in the 45 years that it has been on the air. However children without HBO can still have access to Sesame Street because a deal has been made in order to keep reruns of past episodes on PBS. Looking back at Sesame Street history, I think it is important that every child can have access to this amazing show.

Sesame Street was made to teach children anything from the alphabet, numbers, manners, and much more. In 1966, Joan Cooney held a study in order to find a television show that would educate children who were in preschool. She hired Jon Stone, Dave Connell, and Sam Gibbon to be the producers for what at the time was called The Preschool Educational Television Show.  At seminars regarding this new television show, Cooney met Jim Henson, who at the time was known for his well liked Muppet commercials. Although hesitant at first, Henson decided to jump on board with the new children’s show. According to Henson's wife Jane, Jim decided to join the team because of their own children. She is quoted saying  "[Jim] had begun to realize that children could be a very sophisticated audience" through their own children. After hours of thinking, Connell, Gibbon, and Henson finally voted on the name Sesame Street. With Muppets and animation Henson and his team of puppeteers, including Caroll Spinney (who has been playing Big Bird since the beginning of the show), Frank Oz (playing many Muppet roles including Miss Piggy, and Fozzie Bear, and Bert), all worked together to bring Sesame Street to life. Kevin Clash (famous for playing Elmo) later joined the Sesame Street gang during the 1984-1985 season, which skyrocketed ratings through the roof.

Sesame Street became a gigantic success and is still one of the top children's shows of all time. Although the show is now moving to HBO, I am happy that they made a deal with PBS to keep reruns of Sesame Street. As long as the show can be accessed by anyone, I think it is fair. Although Sesame Street is on HBO now, I hope they continue to uphold the same values that PBS and Jim Henson have built the show around.