Warner Bros. Discovery is suing Paramount for allegedly “stealing” South Park content that you claim you should have exclusive broadcast rights to, as previously reported by Variety. In a lawsuit filed on FridayHBO Max’s parent company claims Paramount worked with South Park‘s and its subsidiary MTV to “divert most of the new South Park possible content” to Paramount Plus to attract viewers to the platform.
In 2019, Warner Bros. Discovery says he paid about $1.6 million for each of the more than 300 episodes that South Park Digital Studios (SPDS), a joint venture between Paramount and South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone — accepted the license. Warner Bros. Discovery claims that Paramount, which also owns Comedy Central, South Park‘s longtime cable television “inducer” South Park Digital Studios to breach this contract with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Paramount “used grammatical sleight of hand, characterizing new content as ‘movies’, ‘movies’, or ‘events'”
The deal was supposed to bring the show’s entire library, as well as the next 30 new episodes for seasons 24, 25 and 26 to HBO Max through June 2025. However, Warner Bros. Discovery claims it didn’t get what it paid for. . He claims that South Park Digital Studios reneged on its promise to provide 10 new episodes for each season and charged the company extra for the 50 minutes. Pandemic Special.
The claim also disagrees with the massive $900 million deal Paramount made with the makers of South Park in August 2021, just a few months after the launch of Paramount Plus. As part of the deal, South Park it will air exclusively on Paramount Plus after the contract with HBO Max ends.
The studio subsequently created several exclusive Paramount Plus specials, including South Park: Post Covid, South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covidand South Park: The Streaming Wars Part 1 and Part 2, which was released throughout 2021 and 2022. Warner Bros. Discovery claims that these specials should have been included in their contract, and that South Park Studios, Paramount and MTV “used sleight of hand, characterizing the new content as ‘movies.’ “. ‘, ‘films’ or ‘events’ to circumvent the contractual obligations of SPDS”.
In a statement to Variety, a Paramount spokesperson said the company believes “these claims are unsubstantiated” and alleges that Warner Bros. Discovery “failed and refused to pay license fees owed to Paramount for episodes that have already been delivered and that HBO Max continues to stream.” .” Paramount did not immediately respond to the edgerequest for comments.
The lawsuit comes at a pivotal time for Warner Bros. Discovery, which reported adding just 1.1 million subscribers across HBO, HBO Max and Discovery Plus this past quarter while losing another $2.1 billion. It is seen clearly South Park as a core component of HBO Max, as he calls the show’s “anchor” content that is “central to branding and marketing” in-demand, saying having the series allows streamers to “increase subscribers and rates subscription, as well as attract advertisers. ”
Warner Bros. Discovery is suing Paramount, SPDS and MTV for “significant money damages” to be determined at trial.
