There’s been a lot of lip flapping going on during the past month or so about Big Bird’s owner, Sesame Workshop.

It centers around $18.2 million in United States Agency for International Development funding  earmarked to produce early childhood development programming for Arabic countries.

This is nothing new.

Back in a more sane era — circa 2016 — there was reporting no one disputed that USAID had funded $3.6 million for similar programming to air in Bangladesh.

As far as threats to eliminate federal funding for the Public Broadcasting System being framed as the equivalent of declaring open season on Big Bird with a Howitzer, close but no cigar as Groucho Marx might have said.  

PBS pays nothing for the right to air Sesame Street nor does it pay for the programming.

Reducing PBS funding, the argument goes, would cut off low-income children from being able to see Sesame Street or any quality early childhood educational programming.

Boy, does Ms. Rachel and a firm called YouTube from chilly San Bruno south of San Francisco have an eye opener for those that believe access for educational programing would dry up.

But, you say, it’s a subscription based show that also has a few episodes streamed on Netflix.

Ms. Rachel was free until her show took off.

There are a lot of things on YouTube that are free.

It is why anyone clucking about the demise of quality children’s programming if PBS goes under need to let go off their death grip on the TV remote and drop off their RCA Victor TV to the Smithsonian.

The internet in general, and not just the YouTube site, is (or will be) much more far reaching than TV given parents today put devices into the hands of kids and not TV remotes.

The reason this can be said with relative certainty is the fact the federal government isn’t charging the buyers of TVs or subscribers to streaming services fees so those that can’t afford a TV or stream can have both.

A typical smartphone bill has a monthly charge of $1.65 or so dubbed as a Universal Service Fee.

This helps provide the low-income including the homeless with free smartphones and cell service as well as extend high speed internet service to underserved areas.

The fee is actually assessed on providers who pass it on to customers.

Federal data shows 97 percent of urban areas can access high speed internet while only 60 percent of those in rural areas can. 

Arguments before the Supreme Court Wednesdayy about whether consumers should subsidize service for others through monthly fees imposed from the government aside, the point is they shouldn’t be dinged twice for the same thing.

Clearly, free devices and free service smartphones are more universal given even the homeless have access to them as opposed to a TV set.

Smartphones can do everything a TV can and more as you can make calls, text, and surf the Internet.

Sesame Workshop -  the “nonprofit” that owns and produces Sesame Street - could easily shift to the internet.

You might balk, but consider another morsel of information.

According to financials Sesame Workshop has to file as a non-profit, Big Bird is sitting on a $404 million financial nest egg.

It’s the value of their investment portfolio that generated $947,000 in interest last year for operating expenses.

That said, hard times have come to Sesame Street.

For the first time ever, they had to recently dip into their nest egg principal to the tune of $6 million.

The worst news wasn’t Elon Musk telling his bro to cut off 4 percent of Sesame Workshop’s overall funding that comes from the USAID and not from federal funds that flow to PBS.

It was HBO’s MAX announcing last year they were dropping Sesame Street from their package at the end of 2025.

That blew a $35 million hole in Big Bird’s annual budget.

It led to the announced layoff of 20 percent of Sesame Workshop’s 850 workers just as Musk revved up the chainsaw.

So who is clipping Big Bird’s wings the most: The viewing public cutting the cable (or dropping the MAX app) or the effort to reduce federal spending?

Even so, why does the question even matter?

Sesame Workshop has the resources to keep going.

Downsizing is often a way of resetting or re-energizing a private sector concern to adjust to changing realities.

And given the Internet is a well-established vehicle being pushed toward universal status on the backs of paying customers who are forced to pay fees so that can happen, losing PBS is less than a death kneel than a probable rebirth.

The handwringing over the viability of the $545 million financial juggernaut Sesame Workshop was in 2024 to be able to survive to make sure the world has quality early childhood programming is a bit overdramatic.

YouTube and Ms. Rachel, plus those that have followed the lead of Blue’s Clues, demonstrates Elmo isn’t the only game in town.

And what makes the entire dust up so ironic is that Tesla, just like Sesame Street and PBS, share the same pedigree.

All three were selected as winners by elected politicians and the federal government in the form of more-robust-than-typical  tax subsidies, tax credits, and grants.

Instead of protecting and/or partially propping up Sesame Workshop directly or indirectly by helping PBS exist so the programs can be aired on free TV, maybe it’s time to free Big Bird from the gilded cage it enjoyed for years created in part by government largesse.

The best way to protect Big Bird from being driven to extinction is to free it from being beholden or dependent of whoever occupies the White House or fills the seats in Congress.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com