Perennial children’s programming favorite Sesame Street is taking to the Internet, with the non-profit Sesame Workshop announcing today that complete episodes of Sesame Street will be available on iTunes for $1.99 each (with 70 percent of the revenue going to Sesame Workshop), and with online video sides YouTube and Hulu also setting up Sesame Street sections featuring clips and segments.
iTunes will be the only service carrying complete episodes of the series; the episodes will accompany featured non-episode Sesame Street programming that’s already available on iTunes. YouTube will be setting up a dedicated Sesame Street channel with more than 100 clips from the show, while Hulu will offer more than 100 segments and 30 celebrity appearances on the show.
iTunes will carry episodes from the show’s 35th season forward; Sesame Street has been on the air for 39 years. Older episodes of Sesame Street will not be available online, although the first 10 seasons of the show are available on DVD.
Although Sesame Street is (obviously) aimed at younger viewers who won’t be able to purchase shows or (hopefully) surf YouTube willy-nilly, adults should be able to easily find programming for their kids, and may even find some nostalgia value in Sesame Street’s online presence. This author would probably pay $1.99 for the complete collection of way cool animated pinball funk-soul counting clips from the 1970s.
