Sesame Street will soon be brought to you by the letters HBO Max, U-G-H

This is obviously a big get for the yet-to-debut streaming service, which, even by the extremely qualified standards of modern subscription launches, is offering up a pretty tepid host of “Originals” so far. (Even if we are perversely excited for that Gremlins prequel cartoon, because we’re morons.) Controlling access to a show that’s still held up as the gold standard for children’s educational programming—indeed, a series that has been proven by educational researchers to provide access to important building blocks in childhood development—is obviously great news for Warner Media’s investors.

The big unanswered question here, though, is whether HBO Max—which pundits are speculating will launch at a $15 per month price point, same as its cable parent, making it one of the highest prices in the streaming market—will maintain HBO’s policy of allowing new episodes of Street to eventually migrate over to PBS (currently available, to everybody, at a rather non-competitive $0 per month level). (Update: HBO Max reached out to us to clarify that Sesame Street—including newly commissioned HBO Max content—will continue to be available via the free PBS Kids network after it premieres on the streaming service.) That’s pretty much the only thing that’s stopped the felt-loving proletariat from tearing this whole thing down already; after all, a streaming service with all 50 seasons of Sesame Street sounds nice and all, but gating it behind an extra $180 per year could turn into a punishing extra expense for the low-income families already struggling to find cost-effective educational tools for their kids.

[via The Verge]

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