What a shame that this brilliant children's show couldn't be publicly funded completely (because as you know, we can't have nice things because of Newt Gingrich) and will now be a tool which will be used to lure even more people into the monopoly world of cable. Well, I guess it's better than losing it completely:

The letters of the day on “Sesame Street” are H, B and O.

Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit group behind the children’s television program, has struck a deal with HBO, the premium cable network, that will bring the next five seasons of “Sesame Street” to HBO and its streaming outlets starting this fall.

The partnership will allow Sesame Workshop to significantly increase its production of “Sesame Street” episodes and other new programming. The group will produce 35 new “Sesame Street” episodes a year, up from the 18 it produces now. Sesame Workshop also will create a spinoff series based on the “Sesame Street” Muppets and another new educational series for children.

After nine months of programming exclusively on HBO, the shows also will be available free on PBS, its home for the past 45 years. “Sesame Street” will also continue its run on PBS this fall, with the season featuring a selection of episodes from the last several seasons edited in new ways.

“Sesame Workshop’s new partnership does not change the fundamental role PBS and stations play in the lives of families,” a PBS spokeswoman said in a statement, noting that PBS stations reach more children ages 2 to 5, more mothers of children under 6 and more low-income children than any children’s TV network, according to Nielsen.