For nearly 40 years, Sesame Street has been a wonderful all American educational classic. According to Wikipedia and other Sesame Street online resources, the show was produced in the United States by the non-profit organization Sesame Workshop, formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), founded by Joan Ganz Cooney and Ralph Rogers. Well known for its children's television series consisting of Muppet characters like Big Bird, Elmo, and other famous favorites created by Jim Henson, Sesame St
reet premiered on November 10, 1969, and is the longest running children's program on American television. According to CBC news, Sesame Street was originally designed to help children from low-income families to prepare for school. The company then expanded to include radio shows, books, magazines and online programming.
reet premiered on November 10, 1969, and is the longest running children's program on American television. According to CBC news, Sesame Street was originally designed to help children from low-income families to prepare for school. The company then expanded to include radio shows, books, magazines and online programming.Unfortunately, due to the economy, Sesame Workshop is cutting about one-fifth of its work force. According to the CBC news, The New York Company stated that it is eliminating 67 of 355 staff positions. Declaring it is "not immune to the unprecedented challenges of today's economic environment," the company pronounced a need "to operate with fewer resources in order to achieve our strategic priorities."
After completing our popular culture projects on media conglomerates, I reviewed some of Sesame Street’s major sponsors including, Wall Street conglomerates, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch, all of which were devastated by the economic crisis.
"Among the company's early TV efforts is The Electric Company, which aired during the 1970s and was revived with new episodes on PBS in January."
"Sesame Workshop gets revenue from product licensing and the sale of its programs to PBS and syndication. The company is also funded by government agencies, foundations and corporations."
"Total revenue was $145 million in 2008, with operating expenses totaling $141 million, according to the company's website."
This proves right here that the economic crisis is hurting everyone. Its like a domino effect. Once one company enters the economic crisis, it hurts all the other companies they are affiliated with. Because Sesame Streets sponsors like Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns are being hurt by the economy, the Sesame Workshop is too. It is such a shame to see this happening. You would never think that this would happen to media that has been around for years. This just comes to show how bad everything is getting and who all is suffering from it.
ReplyDeleteI agree. If Sesame Street is feeling the effects of the recession, all companies are bound to. There are so many facets to the Sesame Workshop organization that I find it hard to understand why they would need to cut one-fifth of their workforce. Sesame Workshop has all of those different media outlets in addition to the multiple educational toys and stuffed dolls. Sesame Workshop also takes in revenue from Sesame Place, the amusement park. As long as there are children, I feel Sesame Workshop should be thriving. Every child I have babysat has something Sesame Street related. The little boy I babysit for now has a set of Sesame street DVDs that he watches on repeat.
ReplyDeleteI did a freelance marketing job with Sesame Workshop a year ago where we measured children's responses to the new version of "The Electric Factory" before it aired. All the children of course loved the show and when we were surveying them, had a lot of experience with Sesame Street related products. I would be very curious to see what department is being hit the hardest with the lay offs in this company...