The streaming wars are getting fairly severe now! HBO Max’s dad or mum firm Warner Bros. Discovery has filed a lawsuit towards Paramount World accusing it of reneging on components of the 2019 $500 million licensing deal for the streaming rights to episodes of the Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s South Park sequence. The go well with, which was filed Friday in New York state Supreme Courtroom and said that Paramount has breached the contract by taking the specials and different content material to its personal Paramount+ platform on the expense of Warner/HBO.
The lawsuit alleges that when HBO Max bid on the South Park streaming rights, it acquired assurance that there could be three new seasons of 10 episodes every. Nonetheless, in accordance with the go well with solely two episodes had been delivered for the primary of these seasons and 6 for the second. The third season may even have solely six episodes—which makes a complete of 14 episodes throughout all three seasons. The go well with additionally notes that the brand new episodes are extra useful than the outdated ones, so HBO Max overpaid for the library.
In 2021, MTV (a Paramount subsidiary) paid $900 million for unique South Park content material that will run on Paramount+. Underneath the deal, Paramount + would obtain 14 “made for streaming” motion pictures. 4 of those initiatives — South Park: Submit Covid, South Park: Submit Covid: The Return of Covid, South Park The Streaming Wars Half 1, and South Park The Streaming Wars Half 2 have already aired on Paramount+.
Paramount denied the allegations and accused Warner Bros. Discovery of failing to pay the license charges that it owes below the settlement. “We imagine these claims are with out advantage and stay up for demonstrating so by means of the authorized course of,” a Paramount World spokesperson advised Selection. “We additionally be aware that Paramount continues to stick to the events’ contract by delivering new South Park episodes to HBO Max, even if Warner Bros. Discovery has failed and refused to pay license charges that it owes to Paramount for episodes which have already been delivered, and which HBO Max continues to stream.
Stone and Parker’s influential present South Park first premiered on Comedy Central in August of 1997. Thus far, 321 episodes of the sequence have been broadcast. The present’s twenty sixth season premiered on Feb. eighth. It has acquired 5 Primetime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. The theatrical function South Park: Larger, Longer & Uncut was launched by Paramount in June 1999.
Selection was first to report on this lawsuit on Friday morning.
Sources: Selection, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline.
