“Fuck you, we’re going to sue,” said one Cartman, who Warner Bros. Discovery, essentially paraphrasing Paramount Global and the creators of the series in a damning lawsuit today South Park Stream rights.
“This is a case concerning the defendants’ opportunistic denial of Warner/HBO’s exclusive streaming rights to the popular animated comedy series south park, for which Warner/HBO agreed to pay more than half a billion dollars,” according to the infringement and other lawsuits filed in New York over the large deal the parties struck in 2019. “Warner/HBO suffered damages of more than $200 million incurred and suffered as a result of the defendants’ misconduct,” added the jury that filed the lawsuit ( read it here ).
The 24-page dossier digs deep into the heart of the streaming wars and battle for subscribers that Paramount+ and HBO Max continue to wage, exposing alleged pandemonium and “grammar scams,” an “illegal conspiracy” and “verbal deception” to the side of the conglomerate led by Bob Bakish, Chief Content Officer Chris McCarthy and South Park Digital Studios.
Paramount Global says no, and you do owe us money.
“We believe these allegations are unfounded and look forward to proving them in court,” a company spokesperson told Deadline Friday. “We also note that Paramount continues to honor the parties’ contract by providing new ones South Park Episodes on HBO Max, although Warner Bros. Discovery failed and refused to pay royalties owed to Paramount for episodes already delivered that HBO Max continues to stream.”
Back in the pre-pandemic era, when new streamers seemed to be running around with pockets full of cash looking for content, WarnerMedia recorded the entire season 23 South Park spring plus three new seasons in a competitive bidding race. The multi-year licensing deal for the Comedy Central satire was with then-Viacom and South Park Digital Studios, a joint venture between Viacom and South Park Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
Two years later, when Parker and Stone signed a $900 million deal with then-ViacomCBS, there seemed to be a shift in the fine print.
Briefly, WBD claims that in 2021 Paramount Global, SPDS and MTV Entertainment Studios created an apparent loophole in the 2019 expanded $500 million deal with now David Zaslav’s company, allowing them to publish new seasons of South Park and more than a dozen so-called “original films” based on the series. To make matters worse, Paramount+ announced last year that the South Park library will be streaming in 2025, with new episodes starting in 2024.
“It has become clear that Paramount sought to use the post-COVID content to grow Paramount+’s subscriber base in flagrant violation of Warner/HBO’s contractual rights,” New York attorneys Walden Macht & Haran said via WBD. “Furthermore, based on intelligence and belief, Paramount and SPDS deliberately characterized the post-COVID content as ‘events’ rather than ‘episodes,’ in an improper attempt to distinguish it from the pandemic specials offered to Warner/HBO assigned which will be provided under the Agreement of 2019.” go on to say.
“Thus, based on information and belief, the defendants engaged in a simple and obvious ruse by mischaracterizing the content to circumvent obligations under both the 2019 and 1998 agreements. SPDS’s failure to allow Warner/HBO to license the post-COVID content for HBO Max was another clear violation of the 2019 agreement.
The lawsuit lists that specific amount as $200 million and later says it seeks punitive damages and “compensation to Warner/HBO for all damages incurred as a result of the defendants’ wrongful conduct, including but not limited to.” punitive damages. damages and surrender of all profits.”
To paraphrase Cartman again, “Don’t you know the first law of nature? Anything fun costs at least $200 million.”
Source: Deadline
Joseph Fearn is an entertainment and television aficionado who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a keen eye for what’s hot in the world of TV, Joseph keeps his readers informed about the latest trends and must-see shows.
