Could Sesame Street possibly leave PBS in the future?

[ssetta]

So I've noticed that while PBS does still air Sesame Street, it sort of seems like PBS is not Sesame Street's real home anymore. It has gotten so commercialized, hence the characters appearing in so many commercials. I'm not saying this is completely a bad thing, but this never would have happened years ago. But it does make me wonder if PBS will finally give up Sesame Street eventually. A lot of PBS stations actually put Sesame Street on the back burner back in the late 90s when all those other shows came on, and they pushed SS to only once a day, as opposed to like 2 or even 3 times a day. And PBS hardly promotes SS anymore, they focus a lot more on the other shows specifically produced for PBS.

 

[LittleJerry92]

The honest answer is I don’t know. It would be a shame if that happened, but the truth is this is the TV industry for you. Many shows unfortunately just end up getting the back end when it comes to situations like this. So who knows what the future holds.

 

[Oscarfan]

They've been getting Sesame for free basically from HBO, so if it costs them virtually nothing to air it, why take it off?

 

[salemfan]

A lot of PBS stations actually put Sesame Street on the back burner back in the late 90s when all those other shows came on, and they pushed SS to only once a day, as opposed to like 2 or even 3 times a day.

I wonder if that's why at the end of 1999 well into 2000 the Boston PBS affiliate WGBH 2 aired Sesame Street at 5 PM on its sister channel WGBX select 44, which in those days aired programming for adults the majority of the weekday, while the main channel (WGBH 2) aired programming for kids from 6 am to 6 pm. By 2003 it wasn't airing on the Boston PBS affiliate at 5 PM anymore.