If you want to get to Sesame Street, you’ll now have to go past Shout! Factory. In a news release it was announced that the boutique distribution company, whose output is a hodgepodge of differentiating genres and target audiences (with its Scream Factory label a godsend to genre fiends), is partnering with the Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind the Emmy Award-winning program Sesame Street, for a new distribution partnership for the iconic Sesame Street home entertainment library.
The deal has Shout! Factory as official distributor for Sesame Street in North America with extensive rights including packaged media (DVD and Blu-ray), video-on-demand and select digital rights to over 150 active titles and programs based on the Sesame Street TV shows; as well as a minimum of four new Sesame Street-themed titles per year for cross-platform releases (DVD, EST, and CVOD) in the U.S. and Canada.
“We’re incredibly excited to collaborate with Sesame Workshop on this fantastic opportunity. Sesame Street is an extraordinary children’s program and a cultural touchstone. This long-running series and its colorful characters continue to engage, inspire, and educate young viewers and families,” stated Shout! Factory’s CEOs Garson Foos and Bob Emmer in a joint statement.
“For almost 50 years, the underlying goal behind every piece of Sesame Street content has been to help kids grow smarter, stronger, and kinder,” said Scott Chambers, Sesame Workshop’s Senior Vice President of North America Media & Licensing. “Shout! Factory’s focus on family content makes them a perfect partner to help Elmo, Big Bird, Abby Cadabby and all their Sesame Street friends reach young children with positive, fun and educational messages.”
“There’s a lot of opportunity to distribute Sesame Street content through digital and on-demand; transactional outlets and on disc. We look forward to presenting these immersive entertainment offerings to families and lifelong fans through Shout’s distribution channels,” said Melissa Boag, Senior Vice President of Family Entertainment at Shout! Factory.
“Shout! Factory is perfectly poised to extend Sesame Street content to the growing number of home entertainment distribution platforms,” added Jennifer A. Perry, Vice President of North America Media Products at Sesame Workshop. “We look forward to developing brand-new titles with Shout! Factory for both our core audience of families with young children, and the three generations of adults who continue to enjoy classic Sesame Street segments that were an important part of their own childhoods.”
