Sesame Street Goes Info Superhighway

PBS has announced a five-year initiative designed to bring the broadcaster’s children’s programming fully into the digital media age. Called PBS KIDS Next Generation Media, the effort includes a new multi-platform destination for preschoolers and a “multicast” service for elementary school kids.

“Having set the standard for high quality children’s educational programming, on-air and online, PBS intends to lead the industry to the next phase for this new generation of children who consume and access media differently than previous generations,” said Lesli Rotenberg, SVP of PBS Brand Management, in a statement.

I’m a little unsure what they mean by “multicast,” but perhaps they mean a combo of a cable destination and an on-demand channel, like what they have created with PBS KIDS Sprout. Accompanying Web sites will expand to provide more educational online games for preschoolers and early elementary school students.