Warner Bros. Discovery Sues Paramount Over ‘South Park’ Streaming Licensing

After shaking hands on a whopping $500 million deal with Paramount Global for exclusive rights to South Park in 2019, Warner Bros. Discovery is now suing them for breach of contract.

Warner Bros. Discovery and HBO secured exclusive streaming rights to South Park’s existing library and its next three seasons in a major deal with Paramount in 2019. But a lawsuit filed Friday (Feb. 24) claims Paramount’s “priorities changed drastically” once they launched their own streaming service. The lawsuit alleges that Paramount “embarked on a multi-year scheme to unfairly take advantage of Warner/HBO” by breaching their 2019 agreement and using South Park content to bolster Paramount+.  

The $500 million deal included exclusive streaming rights to the 30 new episodes South Park Digital Studios – a joint venture between Paramount and South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker – would create for seasons 24, 25, and 26. According to the lawsuit, Warner Bros. Discovery and SPDS settled on a flat-rate licensing fee of $1,687,500 per episode, which they calculated with the belief that the deal included 30 new episodes in addition to the existing library.

Since the 2019 agreement, the lawsuit claims that Warner Bros. Discovery has only received eight total episodes for South Park Seasons 24 and 25. 

The lawsuit explains that South Park is considered “anchor” content for streaming services, much like The Big Bang Theory or Friends. Having a show like that is a big draw for subscribers, and securing exclusive streaming rights for the new episodes was a big selling point for Warner Bros. Discovery.

It also alleges that Paramount, SPDS, and MTV Entertainment Studios (which is also a subsidiary of Paramount) schemed to divert new South Park content to Paramount+. MTV struck a $900 million deal with Stone and Parker in 2021 that would give Paramount+ access to 14 made-for-streaming South Park movies that the lawsuit says is “substantially similar” to the type of content promised to Warner Bros. Discovery. “As you can see from this deal, we have ‘fuck you’ money now,” Stone said in interview with Bloomberg soon after its announcement.

“Franchising marquee content like South Park and developing new IP with tremendous talent like Matt and Trey, is at the heart of our strategy to continue growing Paramount+,” Chris McCarthy, the president and CEO of MTV Entertainment at the time, said in a statement regarding the deal. McCarthy was also chief content officer of adult animation at Paramount+ at the time. 

The new South Park episodes they did receive continue to be among the top performers on HBO Max according to key streaming metrics. However, the lawsuit states, “Had SPDS adhered to its obligation under the 2019 Agreement, HBO Max would have attracted even more new subscribers.”

Paramount denied the allegations in a statement.

 “We believe these claims are without merit and look forward to demonstrating so through the legal process,” the statement reads. “We also note that Paramount continues to adhere to the parties’ contract by delivering new South Park episodes to HBO Max, despite the fact that Warner Bros. Discovery has failed and refused to pay license fees that it owes to Paramount for episodes that have already been delivered, and which HBO Max continues to stream.”

Warner Bros. Discovery aims to recover punitive damages as well as the “hundreds of millions of dollars in damages incurred.”