As PBS Struggles to Stay Afloat, the Model of What 'Sesame Street' Did Shows the Way

One of the major media stories during 2025 concerns the move to end federal financial support for public broadcasting. After generations of talk of pulling this funding, and perpetual debates about the partisan positions held at news sources such as National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), this summer the rescission spending bill was passed and included the call to suspend these payouts.

After the expected wailing in response, we are now beginning to see the effects of this move taking place. One of the first announcements was that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will effectively shut down at the end of September. This is the outfit responsible for disseminating the money, taken in from the government, to the various local TV and radio stations across the country.

There have been signs that the outlets facing money strife could be sustained, via the private sector. It was seen soon after the defunding passed that donations flooded into the coffers of NPR and PBS, something that many opponents of the federal backing felt was a perfectly fine result; if they want to continue with their biased broadcasts on somebody else’s dime, that is the way to do it.

Yet, it appears that these generous audience members have not been enough to cover the loss of around $500 million in federal funds to the public broadcasters. The announcement was recently made that PBS was going to experience a round of layoffs. Following previous moves in response to the money drying up - such as a freeze on hiring, suspending raises, and curtailing travel expenses - the television network says it will be cutting its workforce by 15 percent.

The reason for this is a reality that PBS - much like NPR - always has deflected from explaining its funding. For logic-defying reasons, it was sold that the networks receive only a small percentage of their budgets from the federal payouts. (For PBS, that figure was about 15 percent.) Lost on these lobbyists is that, in saying the amount was negligible, then losing that backing would not lead to panic.

The truth is, the bulk of their budget arrives from affiliates paying license fees for programming. As stated, those affiliates get their funding from the CPB, which are, in other words, federal funds. For PBS, more than half of its operating budget came from those programming fees, so in effect, 75 percent of its operating budget was based on federal dollars. Now, we see why there is trouble.

One thing that rarely gets discussed is the option of going with a commercial model. Why is it considered a non-starter for these outlets to resort to the standard practice of selling ad time? For all of the touted quality of the content on the network and the expressed need for PBS to be available, one would think that corporate arrangements could be made to keep the network afloat.

And you see this possibility through the deals made by a former property. During much of the political debates on this issue this year, one argument trotted out frequently was, “Republicans want to kill Big Bird!” This was fraudulent propaganda, given that “Sesame Street” has not been under the ownership of PBS for a decade.

Initially, striking a deal with Warner Brothers to have new episodes showing on its HBO Max streaming platform, at the end of that contract, the rights have since been picked up by Netflix. (Episodes were still licensed to be shown on PBS as well.) A reconfigured “Sesame Street” is now shown, along with select past episodes. But the children’s program has struck a new secondary deal.

Given that “Sesame Street” has a voluminous catalog of content, after more than 50 years of broadcasts, Netflix was limited on the amount of past shows it would be able to make available. As a result, the parent company of the show, the Sesame Workshop, signed a new licensing deal with YouTube, making far more past episodes available for streaming.

The Sesame Street library is coming to YouTube!
Beginning in January 2026, YouTube will have the largest digital library of Sesame Street content, with hundreds of full episodes coming to the Sesame Street channels.
Join us as we help children everywhere grow smarter, stronger,… pic.twitter.com/xlee77DvzG
— Sesame Street (@sesamestreet) September 4, 2025

This is how it is done. You can market your products and have those monetized and advertised in conventional fashion, and reap benefits along the way. “Sesame Street” can lend another lesson in monetization through the practice of licensed products. While its content and characters lend themselves to toy lines and other products, PBS can develop its own revenue streams similarly.

One other aspect of the hollow lobbying heard in recent years is that the GOP was looking to rob children of the opportunity to learn and grow. As “Sesame Street” has shown, that argument has been blown apart as the show is available on multiple platforms, with a voluminous amount of content, and it can be viewed when desired.

There is no reason PBS cannot find similar alternative options and monetize those choices to remain viable. If less time is spent on mewling over the conditions and more time is spent on finding creative options, then the network can sustain its presence in our homes.

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