Sesame Street Gets a Free, Round-the-Clock Channel
Sesame Street is getting its own free channel that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The channel is being launched by Cricket Media, according to Deadline, and it will show Sesame Street episodes around the clock at no cost to viewers.
The channel is a FAST service, short for free ad-supported streaming television. That means it costs nothing to watch, it is paid for by advertising, and it plays shows on a set schedule, much like an old-fashioned TV channel. Viewers do not pick a single episode. They tune in and see what is on.
At launch, the channel will draw on Sesame Street Seasons 39 through 46. Starting with Season 46, the show's episodes were cut from an hour to a half-hour. Cricket's subsidiary Sensical plans to refresh the channel's programming every month, so the lineup will change over time.
The deal includes the show's full library, which covers more than 4,000 episodes and 8,000 hours of programming. Sesame Street first aired in 1969, and it has been on television ever since.
The channel will carry about seven minutes of advertising per hour. The companies say the ads have been screened to suit family viewing. Volkswagen and Toys'R'Us are among the advertisers signed up for the launch.
Viewers will find the channel on several connected-TV platforms. Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels, Xumo Play and Vizio WatchFree+ will all carry it. Sensical, which is Cricket's own streaming platform, will also host it.
Cricket Media has plans to grow the channel's reach. It intends to add more U.S. platforms and move into international distribution in 2027. Cricket acquired majority control of Sensical in February 2025, and Eric Berger is the company's chief executive.
The channel adds a new home to a show that has moved between networks for years. In 2016, Sesame Workshop, the show's producer, signed a deal with HBO that put new episodes on the premium cable network. Those episodes later moved to HBO Max after its 2020 launch. Sesame Street has also partnered with Netflix, and under that arrangement PBS stations resume first-run broadcasts at the same time episodes go live on the streaming service.
For families, the practical change is simple. A free channel means the show can be on in the background without a subscription, and the lineup will keep rotating. Older viewers who grew up with the programme will recognise the library, while younger children will find the same characters in a schedule they can follow without signing up for anything.
Cricket Media is best known as a children's media company. It publishes children's magazines, runs a free kids' streaming app and licenses its characters for books, streaming and consumer products. The Sesame Street channel is its most prominent move onto the free, ad-supported side of the market.
