In the battle over streaming rights to the “South Park” franchise, Paramount Global has now reportedly accused Warner Bros. Discovery of withholding $52 million in licensing fees according to Variety.
Warner Bros. Discovery sued Paramount in February, alleging the company breached its $500 million licensing deal made in 2019 with HBO Max by diverting all-new “South Park” specials to the Paramount+ service.
Yesterday, Paramount filed a counterclaim in New York Supreme Court alleging HBO Max got everything it bargained for under the agreement. At the same time they indicate HBO Max has withheld two required payments of $26 million apiece – the unpaid fees covering 300+ episodes of “South Park” now streaming on HBO Max.
A Paramount spokesperson says in a statement:
“Warner Bros. Discovery has indefensibly refused to pay the more than $50 million dollars it owes for South Park content that it has undisputedly received and which HBO Max continues to air and exploit.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s argument that Paramount Global was required to deliver additional South Park content is baseless and wholly unsupported by the parties’ agreement. Furthermore, it certainly does not justify WBD’s refusal to pay for immensely valuable content all of which it has received and from which it continues to profit.”
The original 2019 deal was for rights to stream 23 seasons, plus an additional three seasons that had yet to air on Comedy Central. In its lawsuit, WBD alleged that each of those seasons was to consist of ten episodes.
Due in part to the pandemic, the seasons were shortened and what was supposed to be 30 new episodes ended up actually totalling around 14.
In the new counterclaim, Paramount reportedly states that there was never a guarantee that the seasons would include ten episodes apiece and that unlike other bidders for the library, HBO Max allegedly did not mandate a minimum number of episodes.
In 2021, MTV Entertainment Studios announced a $900 million deal with creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone which involves the creation of 14 “South Park” made-for-streaming movies to air on Paramount+ – movies that reportedly don’t fall under the scope of the deal with Warner Bros. Diccovery.
Source: Variety
