Here’s Why Paramount Might Not Secure An Exclusive ‘South Park’ Streaming Deal After All
After it seemed like the South Park streaming wars were finally coming to a close, another imminent media merger is complicating the show’s planned consolidation on a single streaming platform. Don’t be surprised if, a year from now, half the show’s catalog is locked behind a subscription to Splashtown+.
Long before the streaming rights to South Park would become a battleground between media heavyweights Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, Trey Parker and Matt Stone made a decision that would prove to be one of the most profitable moves of their career. Nearly 20 years ago, when Netflix was still a DVD rental service and the hottest innovation in entertainment technology was the TiVo, the South Park creators formed South Park Digital Studios in order to secure control of their beloved franchise’s internet presence, initially allowing fans to watch the series for free on the South Park Studios website.
Today, Parker and Stone’s ownership of the South Park streaming rights allows them to navigate a tense situation with Comedy Central parent company Paramount Global and Skydance Media, a production company founded by tech mogul Larry Ellison, which is in the process of purchasing Paramount. Despite the fact that, in May, Paramount co-Chief Executive Chris McCarthy announced to shareholders that Paramount+ would become the exclusive streaming home of South Park starting in July, the terms of Paramount’s deal with Skydance coupled with Parker and Stone’s impending contract expiration indicate that Parker and Stone could very well start looking for a new streaming distributor by the end of the month.
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Basically, if Paramount doesn’t get their shit together fast, Parker and Stone can tell them and Skydance both to piss off.
The Los Angeles Times recently spoke to anonymous executives from within Paramount’s scrambling offices who said that, despite McCarthy’s promises, the media megacorporation has “hit a snag” in its efforts to consolidate South Park under its umbrella for the foreseeable future. Parker and Stone’s massive $900 million overall deal with Paramount is set to expire in two years, and while Paramount executives are eager to negotiate an extension that would dissuade Parker and Stone from taking South Park’s streaming rights to a competitor, they might not have the final say in the matter.
As part of Paramount’s initial agreement with Skydance, Ellison’s media company has the final say in approving or denying any large deals made by Paramount while the two companies wait for an all-clear from federal regulators. While Paramount is “desperate” to lock down their most enduring comedy cash cow for as long as possible, Skydance has taken a much more conservative approach to the company’s finances, and according to the L.A. Times sources, they believe the estimated $200-million-per-year distribution fees for South Park are too steep.
Critically, under Parker and Stone’s current deal with Paramount, the company has until June 23rd to exclusively negotiate with the South Park creators on a contract extension, afterwards Parker and Stone are entitled to begin testing the market and court offers from other streaming distributors. While new episodes of South Park would continue to air on Paramount’s basic cable channel Comedy Central, the prized South Park streaming library could very well end up on Netflix, Hulu or any other Paramount+ competitor in 2027.
Reportedly, Paramount has already tendered an extension offer to Parker and Stone, but as both the South Park creators and the decision-makers at Skydance have yet to give their approval, the media giant could be staring down another massive streaming headache as soon as next week. Even Matt Damon would find losing the South Park streaming rights to be some tough piss to swallow.
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