They can still pay for it. They’re on the show IIRC.
HBO laid off a bunch of the veteran cast members from Sesame Street after they picked up the show. I don’t see HBO or the remaining cast members giving a rats a$$ about PBS and whether they survive. In fact PBS was rather pissed and was hoping that it wouldn’t do well with all the changes made by HBO. From what I’ve seen of it (the few times I put it on for my kids), I think it is significantly better than the PBS version.