I got Sesame Street All Star Alphabet for Christmas...

[SillyRed]

for the fact that the Dixie Chicks and Melissa Etheridge were on it, but in one of the 5 classic bonus shorts about the letter a, about an ape, and they replaced "Happy Birthday" with a drumroll as the ape is given a piece of cake. Sesame Workshop possibly may not have the money or right to use that birthday song anymore, Is that true?

 

[minor muppetz]

I didn't know that sketch was edited (then again, I wasn't too familiar with that sketch). It seems like Happy Birthday is a very expensive song to get the rights to include on video. I wonder if this means that the sketch where Ernie sings Happy Birthday to U won't be released (that sketch isn't one that I'm too interested in seeing anyway). If the A is for Ape sketch gets released in a future Old School release, I wonder if the music will still be replaced, or if Sesame Workshop will be able to afford the rights to the song.

I believe that if the sketch is ever shown in a new episode of Sesame Street that the sketch can be shown uncut. TV rights are different from video rights (and public television rights are different from commercial television rights). Of course, it would be a surprise if it is featured in a new episode anytime soon (sketches that are that old seem to be shown sparingly in new episodes these days).