MUMBAI: Cablevision Systems Corp. and Sesame Workshop, have launched Sesame Street Games, a new subscription interactive games service featuring the Muppets from Sesame Street available to iO: Interactive Optimum digital cable customers in New York.

The Sesame Street Games package offers unlimited access to fun, easy-to-play games designed to educate and entertain young children ages 2 to 5 with Elmo, Grover, Zoe and the rest of their favourite Sesame Street characters by pressing a single button on the television remote control.

“This new games package, developed in cooperation with Sesame Workshop, is a perfect example of the power of digital cable to serve customers in new and exciting ways that add value to the television experience. We are extremely pleased to be able to offer our iO customers the industry’s first educational and entertaining subscription games package dedicated to young children,” said Cablevision vice president digital television and broadband development Patrick Donoghue.

“Sesame Workshop is always seeking new ways to present learning opportunities to our audience and we are thrilled to be able to bring them the Sesame Street package through Cablevision’s iO digital cable service,” said Sesame Workshop president and CEO Gary E Knell.

With Sesame Street games, children extend their learning from Sesame Street by interacting with their favourite characters as often as they like, any time of day. The Sesame Street Games package gives children a fun way to learn about letters, numbers, shapes, colours, science, problem solving, sharing, caring and more. The package will feature three new Sesame Street games each month.

Games currently available in the package include:

Leaf Collage – Children learn colours and counting while helping Elmo make a leaf collage.

Thanks for the Letters – Encourages children to learn food names and the letters they begin with at the same time. Children choose a letter and then help Zoe make a meal using foods that start with that letter.

Tickle Elmo – This game is filled with laughter as children tickle Elmo as much as they like to make him giggle.

As with all of Sesame Workshop’s content, an extensive research study was conducted to help identify game play patterns that would enable young children, ages two to four, to use a remote control to make choices on a television screen.

The results of this research led directly to the design of the three game play modes that are used in the Sesame Street Games package: Toddler, Preschool and Kindergarten. The service also offers Demo and Help sections, which explains each game play mode, and guides parents to choose the mode that is most appropriate for their child.

The prototype of the Sesame Street Games package earned three Interactive Television Emmy nominations.

The Sesame Street Games package is available to all iO digital cable customers for $4.95 per month. Using the iO auto-upgrade feature, customers can instantly purchase the Sesame Street Games package directly through the television by using a remote control and following on-screen prompts. Before purchasing, iO customers may view a free animated information video about the Sesame Street Games package.