When I first read this I was really sad. It's one of the few things that can connect kids of different backgrounds together in culture, nevermind the educational benefits. It felt so sacred that it was public.
But the more I read about it the more I was ok. Kids won't know if something is 9 months old. My friends stream 80s episodes ffs. And the influx of cash may be beneficial which is a win in the long run.
Plus, I have to admit I'm a bit intrigued to see what HBO does with it.
I'm having a very hard time trying to understand why this is a terrible deal. As someone who watches Sesame Street several times a week because it's on, never once have I seen my children give a shit that the episode wasn't new. In fact, I don't think we ever really noticed.
Second, I can't help but feel that making the episodes available for FREE to local PBS stations is a huge benefit. Programming is really expensive at the local level and I'm happy that my station will have access to a quality program without cost to them.
I don't think anyone is arguing that the well to do kids getting Sesame Street before the have not kids is a great travesty. Kids don't care about this fact. The issue is that these two classes of kids are being treated differently at all when the whole point of Sesame Street was to equalize opportunities for poor kids.