Sesame Workshop Sesame Workshop ( formerly known as the Children ' s Television Workshop , or CTW for short ) is the owner and sole proprietor of " Sesame Street " as well as the properties " Dragon Tales " , " Sagwa , the Chinese Siamese Cat " , " The Electric Company " , " 3 - 2 - 1 Contact " , " Square One TV " , " Big Bag " , " Pinky Dinky Doo " , and the " Sesame Studios " YouTube channel . The CTW was founded in 1968 by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett as a non - profit corporation whose original purpose was to develop and produced an educational television show for preschool children , particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds . Michael Davis writes in " Street Gang " that " Regal twin portraits of Morrisett and Joan Cooney adorn the entranceway to the Workshops corporate offices at One Lincoln Plaza . . . " , underscoring Morrisett ' s importance as co - founder of the Workshop . The first show that CTW produced was " Sesame Street " , which proved hugely successful . The Carnegie Corporation , the US Office of Education , and Ford Foundation provided the initial funding for the project . A few years after the success of " Sesame Street " , The Jim Henson Company worked with the company to develop another series , " The Affect Show " . However , " The Affect Show " didn ' t get past planning stages . In 1999 , the Children ' s Television Workshop , along with Nickelodeon , a division of MTV Networks owned by Viacom , launched a kids ' channel called Noggin , featuring many classic kids ' shows from both companies . Sesame Workshop later sold its half of the channel to Viacom on August 7 , 2002 . In 2000 , the Children ' s Television Workshop changed its name to Sesame Workshop ; by then , the company had expanded beyond television . In concert with this name change , Sesame Workshop began to eliminate all references to CTW , such as cutting out the references in " Sesame Street ' s " closing credits and replacing all the old CTW logos on TV with the current Sesame Workshop animated logo , and replacing the " CTW " on the Sesame Street sign with " 123 " . In December of the same year , The Jim Henson Company ( then under ownership of the German media firm , EM . TV ) sold the rights to the for $ 180 million , giving Sesame Workshop full ownership of the " Sesame Street " Muppets . Prior to the sale , The Jim Henson Company had owned the rights to the characters , but split revenue generated from merchandise with Sesame Workshop . When EM . TV put The Jim Henson Company up for sale in 2003 , Sesame Workshop was one of the bidders for the property with Classic Media via bankrolled funds provided by Sony Pictures Entertainment . In 2005 , Sesame Workshop , along with Comcast , PBS , and HIT Entertainment , launched a new cable channel called PBS Kids Sprout . Sesame Workshop divested its stake in Sprout in December 2012 . Sesame Workshop runs a critically acclaimed website , sesameworkshop . org . In late 2007 , the organization launched the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop , " to catalyze and support research , innovation and investment in digital media technologies to advance children ' s learning . " On March 11 , 2009 , CEO Gary Knell released a statement announcing that Sesame Workshop was laying off 67 positions , or around 20 % of it ' s staff of 355 . Three months previously , Knell told Bloomberg Radio the company was " able to withstand " recessions , but not " immune " . While revue increased 12 % in 2008 to $ 145 million , operation expenses rose by 14 % to $ 141 million and program expenses ( which includes content distribution and licensing ) rose $ 16 . 4 million to $ 116 . 4 million . Another 12 were laid off in 2012 , mostly in their digital media department .