A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving aired for the first time on public television Sunday night thanks to a deal between Apple and PBS to broadcast the beloved holiday special could be viewed by the masses and not just AppleTV+ subscribers. However, the joy of many quickly turned to irritation and ire when fans attempted to tune for the holiday tradition and quickly discovered that, while the special was in fact airing over the air on PBS, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving couldn’t be livestreamed via PBS’ platforms.
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In October, it was announced that AppleTV+ had secured the rights to the Peanuts cartoons, including the catalog of holiday specials such as A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, thus ending the national network broadcast of those programs each holiday season. While it was announced that both A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and A Charlie Brown Christmas would be available for free on Apple TV+ during select windows during the season, the move generated a great deal of backlash ultimately resulting in the partnership with PBS that would see A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving air on PBS and PBS KIDS on November 22nd and A Charlie Brown Christmas on December 13th.
Unfortunately, when viewers who had either cut the cord or didn’t otherwise have access to PBS over-the-air tuned in using various livestream options, they quickly discovered that the Apple/PBS partnership didn’t work in their favor. The Thanksgiving special was not available to livestream viewers for PBS — and people are not happy about it. Many on social media declared that Apple has “ruined” the holidays for kids, prompting further backlash against Apple regarding its handling of the Charlie Brown specials.
You can read on to see some of the reactions from viewers discovering that A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving cannot be livestreamed and be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Ruined
(I am pissed) F**k you, PBS for RUINED THE CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGIVING BROADCAST ON LIVESTREAM! #CharlieBrownThanksgiving #PBS pic.twitter.com/tJ7r8kBJuQ
— 🦃Jermaine Universe⭐ (Welcome to Animaniacs) 🥧 (@JermiloGamingHD) November 23, 2020
NOPE
So our old TV needs an antenna to get the digital channels and as a result it refuses to pick up the PBS stations. But the PBS Roku app has a livestream so we can still watch Charlie Brown!
— Patricia Correll (@Author_PCorrell) November 23, 2020
NOPE. The livestream is suspended for the length of the show.#FUCKYOUAPPLE pic.twitter.com/RGsiz0mb55
Good grief!
.@PBS is airing an #Peanuts special “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” tonight for the first time ever on public television, but the livestream on both its local stations & the @PBSKIDS website are blackout as @AppleTV owned by @Apple Computers owns the streaming rights. Good grief! pic.twitter.com/b5BgnJeyv6
— Joshua Albarran (@JoshX1993) November 23, 2020
Not today
Oh good grief.
— RobbieTehRotten (@RobbieTehRotten) November 23, 2020
No Charlie Brown for me today. pic.twitter.com/8f9otgwQxA
Thanks, Apple
@AppleTV @PBS After all the excitement… complete disappointment instead. Thanks for cutting out those who only have streaming options. No Charlie Brown for my kids. #CharlieBrownThanksgiving pic.twitter.com/rFL2L4MUGx
— Heather Earnhart (@HatHeather) November 23, 2020
Sneaky
apple was very sneaky with the Charlie Brown thanksgiving exclusivity. you can watch it on PBS, but not with their app. if you cut the cord, you have to use TV+ pic.twitter.com/6OKhvpNEwO
— Elijah Ciali (@ItsElijahCiali) November 23, 2020
Not available on-demand either.
FYI-Tonight’s airing of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving at 7:30pm will only air on WVIA TV over the air, cable/satellite, and YouTube TV. It will not be available on the WVIA live stream at https://t.co/3whXSrAqBv or on the PBS apps. It will also not be available on-demand. https://t.co/KALOSZbIuF
— WVIA Engineering (@WviaEng) November 22, 2020
Yep
So, it looks like I can’t watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on the live stream function of the PBS app 🖕@Apple
— Travis Byrd (@tbyrd28_3) November 23, 2020
Not even with a paid account
So, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is on PBS but I can’t live stream it even though I have a paid Passport account. What bullshit!
— Foodiechatter and other quarantine BS (@PhillyGrub) November 23, 2020
