I've seen a "new" tag on Finishing the Splat as well, but on zap2it. So, after a simple look on the Wikia, I noticed that Finishing the Splat wasn't listed as one of the repeat episodes from season 46. So it's somehow considered a new episode in half hour rerun for season 45 form? I get why he was confused about it. Then again, Zap2it is weird. I noticed when Qubo for some reason started rerunning old Denver the Last Dinosaur episodes, they were tagged as "new." All the while some actually new episodes of something aren't. And... well... when it listed some Be Cool Scooby-Doo and Wabbit episodes, they were reruns from the future, apparently. I would personally chalk that up to Zap2it's inaccuracy, but it's odd that someone found it on another TV listings site.Where are you getting this info from? I don't think that's the case at all. From the PBS listings I've seen, the episodes re-running now are billed as "45##," meaning they're extensions of season 45, not season 46.
So it's a shame that isn't the case because that would have worked so well. "New" reruns for PBS while the newly produced Sesame episodes got a run on HBO. Seems like it would have been a good compromise over that 9 month gap and the fact the season started late.