About 200 old episodes of “Sesame Street” have been removed. The cost-savings cuts come as HBO Max and Discovery+ prepare to merge into one platform.
NEW YORK — HBO Max is leaving behind its streaming catalog in the wake of its merger with Discovery, with 200 classic episodes of “Sesame Street” among the 36 titles getting the ax this week.
The content cleanup is the latest in a series of cost-cutting efforts by parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, which is preparing to merge HBO Max and Discovery+ into one platform sometime next year.
As of Friday, “Sesame Street” had 456 episodes left on HBO Max. According to different types, With complete lineups from seasons 39-52 and selections from earlier seasons.
HBO first partnered with Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that created “Sesame Street,” in 2015, with HBO acquiring the rights to air new episodes of the long-running series before it airs on PBS. Also provided the show with much needed cash. . According to Variety reports, the current deal keeps the new “Sesame Street” seasons running first on HBO Max until 2025.
Among the titles being removed from the streaming service are 20 original HBO Max shows that, according to Variety, contain mostly family or children’s content.
The cuts include several “Sesame Street” spinoffs and specials such as “The Not Too Late Show with Elmo,” the children’s show “Summer Camp Island,” the teen drama “Generation” and the animated anthology series “Infinity Train.”
Warner Bros. Discovery has made it clear that family-oriented content will not be a focus for the near-term as the companies complete their merger. The company’s CFO said on an earnings call that kids and animation content will be cut “without a proper investment case against them.” The deadline was notified.
Cutting out these topics allows the company to save. “tens of millions of dollars” On the remains, CNBC reported.
Warner Bros. also made headlines earlier this month when it stunned Hollywood by announcing it would not release the “Batgirl” movie made for HBO Max, instead paying $90 million without a release. to choose to shelve the project.
Titles leaving HBO Max include:
- 12 Dates of Christmas
- About last night
- Aquaman: King of Atlantis
- Stop coffee
- Detention Adventures
- Dodo
- Allen’s next great designer
- Elite from Earth
- Esme and Roy
- Fungi!
- Generation Hustle
- race
- The Infinity Train
- Little Ellen
- Mao Mao, the pure-hearted hero
- Messi goes to Okido.
- Mia’s Magical Playground
- Mighty Magiswords
- My dinner with Harvey
- My mother, your father
- Odo
- OK! – Let’s be heroes.
- The Ollie and Moon Show
- Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
- The Pursuit of Happiness by Ravi Patel
- Select Sesame Street Specials.
- Make it big, make it small
- Share it
- Squish
- Summer Camp Island
- The Not Too Late Show with Elmo
- Runaway Rabbit – Exclusive
- Theodosia
- Tig n Sec
- uncle grandfather
- Victor and Valentino
- Cute dinosaurs