Warner Bros. Discovery is suing Paramount for allegedly stealing "South Park content that it contends it should have the sole streaming rights to.
The competing media business was accused of violating a $500,000 exclusivity agreement with HBO Max by airing "South Park" on its own streaming service, Paramount Plus.
The Path To The Lawsuit Has Been Long
The parent company of HBO Max asserts that in order to draw people to Paramount Plus, Paramount collaborated with the "South Park" creators and its MTV subsidiary to "divert as much of the new 'South Park' material as possible."
South Park Digital Studios (SPDS) agreed to license more than 300 episodes in 2019, and according to Warner Bros. Discovery, it paid almost $1.6 million for each of those episodes.
According to The Verge, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of "South Park," collaborated with Paramount on this project.
South Park Digital Studios allegedly broke this agreement with Warner Bros Discovery after being "induced" by Paramount, which also owns Comedy Central, "South Park"'s longtime cable TV home.
The contract was expected to bring the show's complete catalog, as well as the 30 planned new episodes for seasons 24, 25, and 26 to HBO Max until June 2025.
However, South Park Digital Studios reportedly violated its agreement to deliver 10 new episodes for each season, according to Warner Bros. Discovery, who also claims it did not get what it paid for.
Aside from this, it included an additional fee for the 50-minute Pandemic Special reportedly as well.
The lawsuit also criticizes the massive $900 million agreement Paramount struck with the show's producers in August 2021, just months after Paramount Plus was introduced.
As its contract with HBO Max expires, "South Park" will exclusively stream on Paramount Plus as part of the agreement.
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Paramount Says That The Suit's Claims Were Baseless
By sending fresh "South Park" episodes to HBO Max, Paramount claims it is staying true to the terms of the parties' agreement, CNN Business reports.
This is despite the fact that HBO Max is still streaming these episodes despite Warner Bros Discovery refusing to pay the license payments it owes to Paramount for the previously aired programs.
The defendants allegedly utilized terminology like "movies," "films," and "events" to evade their contractual commitments, according to Warner Bros. Discovery.
The studio produced a number of Paramount Plus-only specials, including "South Park: Post Covid," "South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid," and "South Park: The Streaming Wars Parts 1" and 2, which appeared in 2021 and 2022.
According to Warner Bros. Discovery, South Park Studios, Paramount, and MTV "used grammatical sleight-of-hand to side-step SPDS's contractual obligations" by not including these programs in their agreement.
Despite this, according to a spokesman for Paramount, "these claims are without merit," The Verge writes.
The case is filed at a crucial moment for Warner Bros. Discovery, which reported only 1.1 million new HBO, HBO Max, and Discovery Plus customers during the most recent quarter while losing an additional $2.1 billion.
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