Thankfully, the trips to Sesame Street are not over. The beloved kids television series, which has been running since 1969, will now be available to stream on Netflix and PBS after HBO and Max did not renew their longstanding deal with the series at the end of 2024.
New episodes of the show will be available on Netflix, as well as the show’s catalog of past episodes, worldwide, while new episodes will also be available on their air day via both PBS stations and PBS Kids. Additionally, because Netflix is also currently trying to ramp up their gaming arm — which will allow subscribers to play games via the app and using their mobile device as a controller — this deal will also allow the streamer to develop video games for the show, as well as the spinoff series Sesame Street Mecha Builders.
Sesame Street announced the new deal via their social media platforms on May 19. “The support of Netflix, PBS, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting serve as a unique public-private partnership to enable Sesame Street to continue to help children everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder,” they wrote in a post direct from the Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind the enduring series.
We are excited to announce that all new Sesame Street episodes are coming to @netflix worldwide along with library episodes, and new episodes will also release the same day on @PBS Stations and @PBSKIDS platforms in the US, preserving a 50+ year relationship.
The support of… pic.twitter.com/B76MxQzrpI
— Sesame Street (@sesamestreet) May 19, 2025
For season 56, the show will also deal with some structural changes. Each episode will now have an 11-minute story at the helm, which is an attempt to take a page from the books of other more character-driven children’s shows like the hit Bluey. That said, fans of the show can also expect the return of some favorite segments too, including Elmo’s World (yep, the one we all know and love) and Cookie Monster’s Foodie Truck.
Sesame Street aired its first episode in November 1969 and became a part of the PBS network in the 1970s. The show has been a cultural landmark practically since it began and HBO and Max started working with the show in 2015, striking a $35 million deal for new episodes.
That partnership ended in late 2024 as the streamer pulled back from focusing on children’s programming, which they claimed at the time did not hit well with subscribers. That said, the Sesame Street library will still be available on HBO and Max through 2027, a slight extension of the original 10-year deal that was made but one that obviously omits the producing element.
Photo credit: STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
