EXCLUSIVE: About a dozen people were laid off today at Sesame Workshop, producers of Sesame Street. The job cuts were at the company’s main New York offices as it “shifted some resources to better align with our strategic priorities and new opportunities,” a company spokesperson told Deadline. So far the big cuts have been in the Digital Media department. In 2009, Sesame Workshop laid off more than 60 of its then 355 employees as the company was hit hard by a fall-off in donations and licensing revenue from the bad economy. H. Melvin Ming took over as Sesame Workshop president and CEO when Gary Knell moved on to become CEO of NPR. Ming had been COO. Sesame Street first debuted in 1969. The nonprofit Sesame Workshop produces programming for more than 150 countries worldwide.

Deadline's Dominic Patten - tip him here.