HBO Max Removes About 200 ‘Sesame Street’ Episodes

The content purge continues at GONE: HBO Max as the streaming platform pulled nearly 200 old episodes of the classic kids show “Sesame Street.”

The removal of “Sesame Street” episodes and other recent content by HBO Max appears to be part of new owner Warner Bros. Discovery’s belt-tightening move, which aims to reduce streaming-content payment obligations.

As of Friday, HBO Max listed a total of 456 episodes of “Sesame Street” with selections from Seasons 1, 5 and 7 and the full lineup from the most recent seasons 39–52. Of those, only 29 are from the early season. Previously, the streaming service offered a total of 650 “Sesame Street” episodes, including episodes from seasons 2–4 and episodes for each season between 8 and 35.

Representatives for Warner Bros. Discovery and Sesame Workshop did not respond to requests for comment.

HBO and Sesame Workshop first struck a deal in 2015, providing a new revenue stream for “Sesame Street” while giving HBO the rights to play new episodes of the landmark series before they were released on their long run. Appear on PBS. Their current deal keeps “Sesame Street” on HBO Max until 2025.

Still available on HBO Max, in addition to the remaining episodes of the “Sesame Street” series, there are the 10-episode “Sesame Street Mecha Builders”, seven seasons of “My Sesame Street Friends” and “The Magical Wand Chase” specials. Featuring Elmo and Abby.

HBO Max said Wednesday that at least 36 more titles will leave the service this week after the “Sesame Street” episode was removed. It includes 20 original HBO Max shows, including the teen drama “Generation”, the animated anthology series “Infinity Train” and the kids show “Summer Camp Island”, as well as several “Sesame Street” specials. This is in addition to previously announced titles exiting HBO Max this month, including all eight original “Harry Potter” movies.

Warner Bros. Discovery said the decision to withdraw the title from HBO Max is tied to the platform’s pending combo with Discovery+. “As we work towards bringing our content catalog under one platform, we will be transitioning the content offerings available on both HBO Max and Discovery+,” the company said in a statement. “This would include the removal of certain content from both platforms.”

In recent weeks, HBO Max has also quietly dropped six Warner Bros. movies and HBO shows such as “Camping,” “Vinyl,” “Mrs. Fletcher” and “Run.” Led by Warner Bros. Discovery, HBO Max also recently kicked off Greg Berlanti’s DC series “Strange Adventures” and a “Wonder Twins” live-action movie.