How come the Muppet Show isn't on Disney+?

[Duke Remington]

Well, I had an idea: Why not have them put the two "It's the Muppets!" compilation videos on Disney+? That'll be fine with me, as long as there's some representation/usage of The Muppet Show. Besides, those were distributed by Buena Vista Home Video (which is related to Disney) under the Jim Henson Video label, so why not? Or maybe Disney could create Muppet Show compilations in the style of the "It's the Muppets!" and "The Very Best of The Muppet Show" compilation videos for Disney+! So, what does everyone think?

That wouldn’t work. They would still have to clear the music rights and all.

 

[David French]

We're still waiting for a proper release of the last 2 seasons (including the legendary Star Wars episode), right?

Because the copyright owner is not Walt Disney Television nor Walt Disney Studios, and that seems to be where the television content of Disney+ is coming from.

 

[Muppet Master]

If they can release the first 3 seasons of The Muppet Show on DVD, I don't see why they couldn't put them on Disney+. Wouldn't they already have had the rights to those seasons?

They could have at least added Muppets Tonight. It would probably by far easier to clear the rights to that.

 

[JJandJanice]

I imagine there’s an issue with copyrighted music. I would have to imagine Muppets tonight would actually be harder to get cleared since the music is much more recent hits from the likes of Prince and Garth Brooks, but I could be wrong.

I also noticed that Dinosaurs is not currently streaming on Disney+, which I thought it would as it’s a Disney owned show.

But also let’s remember, Disney+ is still a very new streaming service. They’re gonna want to add more content sometime in the future. So maybe there’s a chance we’ll get more classic Muppet content, but don’t expect it in the immediate future.

 

[TheRealFraggle]

It's on Disney+ now. Well, most of it. The Brooke Shields and Chris Langham episodes are gone, and a few other episodes had songs cut from them IIRC .