South Park is at the center of a major battle between Paramount and Warner Bros. Opening. Who will get the end of this story?
If Paramount+’s South Park movie deal seemed odd to you when HBO Max offered exclusive rights to the series, know you’re not alone(e). Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) sued Paramount Global, accusing it of violating the terms of a $500 million 2019 deal that gave HBO Max broadcast rights to South Park. WDB says Paramount has “always planned”to bring users to its service, not only offering special new content, but cheating on content promised for the regular seasons.
South Park is at the center of a major battle between Paramount and Warner Bros. Opening
HBO Max originally promised three new seasons of 10 episodes each. However, the supplier explains that he has only received 8 episodes in the two seasons already delivered, and the next one will only have 6, again too few. In addition, Paramount allegedly used “verbal deception”to rename content as movies or events in order to avoid giving the video to its competitor.
In a statement sent to Engadget, Paramount says the case is “without merit.”The company claims it is still honoring the contract despite Warner not paying the licensing fees for the South Park episodes it has already produced. Contacted on the topic, WBD has not yet responded.
Who will get the end of this story?
This lawsuit is not all that surprising. WBD, the late WarnerMedia, has always wanted to put together as much content as possible for HBO Max ahead of its 2020 launch, including Friends and Doctor Who. Regardless of whether Paramount has broken its contract, South Park content on Paramount+ takes precedence over the same HBO Max content, so you no longer need to use the service if you want to watch the latest adventures of Cartman and his friends.
Paramount, for its part, has many reasons to dispute this file. Paramount+ had 43 million users last spring and is thriving when giants like Netflix are in trouble. It’s hard to say exactly what role South Park has played in that growth, but the company has no desire to give up broadcast rights to one of its most popular series without a fight (Paramount owns Comedy Central).