Iftah Ya Simsim
Iftah Ya Simsim (; meaning "Open Sesame") is the first international co-production of the American children's television series "Sesame Street" created in the Arab world. It premiered in Kuwait on September 14, 1979 and was broadcast in 22 Arabic-speaking countries, running until April 6, 1990. The program continued to be well-known decades after it went off the air. In 1978, educators, mass media officers, and social planners agreed to adopt "Sesame Street" as a feasible and economical solution for the low attendance in preschools and illiteracy that plagued the region. They approached the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the producers of the American show, and purchased the rights to create an Arab version for US$2.5 million.
Iftah Ya Simsim
As of 2006, there were 20 active co-productions. In 2001, CTW vice-president Charlotte Cole estimated that there were over 120 million viewers of all international versions of Sesame Street, and by the show's 40th anniversary in 2009, they were seen in more than 140 countries. Doreen Carvajal of "The New York Times" reported that income from the co-productions accounted for US$96 million in 1994. Cole stated, "Children's Television Workshop (CTW) can be regarded as the single largest informal educator of young children in the world". Studies conducted on the effects of several co-productions found that viewers of these shows gain basic skills from watching them.