South Park has been entertaining viewers for over two decades now, with its crude humor and irreverent takes on pop culture happenings. While most of South Park’s controversial moments have to do with its content, there’s been quite the brouhaha going on behind the scenes. Back in February, Warner Bros. Discovery sued Paramount Global, with HBO Max arguing they didn’t get the original content promised in the huge $500 million streaming deal they made in 2019. Now Paramount has hit back, alleging in a countersuit that not only did they fulfill the terms of the agreement, but that HBO Max has withheld two payments of $26 million apiece.
Warner Bros Discovery has said Paramount violated the streaming contract by providing only 14 new episodes of South Park, when HBO Max was expecting three 10-episode seasons. Paramount disputed this in their counterclaim, via Variety, saying there was no minimum number of episodes agreed on. A spokesperson also said in a statement that the $52 million owed is for the rights to the 300-plus best South Park episodes (minus a few from the full catalog) that HBO Max is currently profiting from. The statement reads:
Warner Bros. Discovery has indefensibly refused to pay the more than $50 million dollars it owes for South Park content that it has undisputedly received and which HBO Max continues to air and exploit. Warner Bros. Discovery’s argument that Paramount Global was required to deliver additional South Park content is baseless and wholly unsupported by the parties’ agreement. Furthermore, it certainly does not justify WBD’s refusal to pay for immensely valuable content all of which it has received and from which it continues to profit.
The 2019 deal sold episodic rights to HBO Max (whose service debuted in May 2020), giving the new streamer South Park’s 20-plus seasons of content with the assurance that at least three more seasons would be developed. HBO Max alleges those were to consist of 10 episodes per season. However, when the pandemic hit, only two episodes were able to be produced in Season 24, with Seasons 25 and 26 featuring just six episodes apiece.
Also at play is the $900 million deal with Trey Parker and Matt Stone for 14 made-for-streaming South Park movies for Paramount+. Warner Bros. Discovery accused Paramount of using “verbal trickery” by calling them "movies" in order to keep original content for itself that should have gone to HBO Max through the 2019 deal. Paramount’s latest filing, however, argues both of those claims, saying:
The Term Sheet reflects no episodic commitment whatsoever for the new seasons of ‘South Park.' The Term Sheet likewise reflects no term that could require South Park Studios to offer to license to WarnerMedia the rights to any made-for-streaming movies developed outside the television seasons.
The situation with the two media companies certainly seems to be a big pile of Mr. Hankey and the other best South Park characters, with millions of dollars at stake. While we wait to see how this legal matter plays out, fans can stream South Park episodes with an HBO Max subscription, while the four currently released movie specials are available with a Paramount+ subscription.
