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Elmo and friends have been saved! Netflix has sealed the deal to keep Sesame Street afloat despite
Donald Trump’s budget cut from PBS – the Public Broadcasting Service.
When the merger takes place, Netflix will upload 90 hours of the show which is roughly between 100-200
episodes, as well as premiere a brand-new season. The new episodes will continue to premiere on PBS as
well as streaming on Netflix in the fall.
The Ready to Learn grant was not renewed by the U.S. Department of Education and therefore the
programming that received its funding, namely PBS and CPB (The Corporation for Public Broadcasting)
as well as 44 other public media stations.
Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of CPB, is adamant about working with Congress to restore the
budget, expressing that a lot of the content produced by PBS and other public media stations provide
invaluable children’s education content that is safe from Internet dangers. And most importantly, it’s free.
The RTL grant officially expires on September 30th so parents still have a long summer of classic
programming for their kids before they have to make the switch to Netflix. Most Americans though,
already have a Netflix account or a family member, roommate or friend that does and allows them to
make a separate profile to enjoy the content.
Netflix has quietly been increasing its focus on children’s content, which presently accounts for 15% of
the media company’s viewership. The new episodes of Sesame Street, however, will be undergoing a
format change with one episode running for 11 minutes, which really could have been sold to Youtube for
that time length. But, of course, the kids profile safety feature on Netflix ensures that children won’t
accidentally consume adult content on Youtube or other online platforms.
While the competition for business and consumerism is at an all time high with Trump’s “DEI” budget
cuts and bans on anything he considers “fake news,” companies that ignore his foolishness are
experiencing a windfall. CostCo, a pro-DEI company, has received a 9% jump in profits since February of
this year, while Target has lost over $12 billion cumulatively, including a major decrease in stock prices.
Netflix has always been smart about knowing when to maintain and when to come to the edge and there’s
no doubt that this move to save an historic, multi-generational show will do wonders for their profits.
In case Trump and his compadres haven’t gotten the memo, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is very good
for business.
