HBO Max pulls hundreds of 'Sesame Street' episodes in latest cull
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The content cull at HBO Max (NASDAQ:WBD) continues - and this time it's coming for Big Bird and Elmo.
HBO Max has removed about 200 older episodes of classic children's television show Sesame Street, the latest content removal that comes as the newly combined ownership at Warner Bros. Discovery looks to sharply curtail costs.
Of 456 total episodes of Sesame Street available Friday (down from a previous 650), only 29 are from the earliest seasons, and the streaming service lists a selection from seasons 1, 5 and 7 along with complete programs for seasons 39-52, Variety notes.
HBO and show producer Sesame Workshop reached a partnership deal in summer 2015 that gave HBO episode premier rights for shows that would later migrate to their traditional home of PBS.
That deal (which keeps the show on HBO Max until 2025) let Sesame Street move from a deficit operation to one that could nearly double production to 35 episodes per year.
Warner Bros. Discovery stock (WBD) was a positive outlier in a down market for Communications stocks Friday, up 2.8%.
With the WarnerMedia/Discovery merger having settled in for a few months, the cost-cutting moves have been adding up at Warner Bros. Discovery of late: About 70 jobs were recently cut at HBO Max, and CNN said it was canceling its 30-year-old Reliable Sources program.
And the latest removals at HBO Max include nearly 36 titles this week, and 20 original HBO Max shows.