Here’s Why Trey Parker and Matt Stone Are Threatening Paramount With Legal Action
The South Park Streaming Wars are far from over, and the creators are prepared to join the fight.
Back in May, Paramount co-Chief Executive Chris McCarthy made headlines when he announced to shareholders that Paramount+ would soon become the home of the South Park streaming library in its entirety after splitting custody with Max in an acrimonious two-home solution for the past four years. However, with the end of Paramount Global’s contract with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone looming two years in the distance and Paramount anxiously inching toward its sale to Larry Ellison’s media company Skydance, the future of South Park on Paramount+ is much less certain than shareholders and subscribers would hope, and a new letter from Parker and Stone’s lawyers to both Skydance and its preferred choice for Paramount president may exacerbate those tensions.
As of this week, Parker, Stone and their shared company Park County are free to shop South Park’s streaming rights starting in 2027 to platforms other than Paramount+, and they have accused RedBird Capital executive Jeff Shell, who would be Paramount Global’s president pending approval on the Skydance acquisition, of interfering in their negotiations with Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery.
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It seems that the stage is set for a dark horse candidate to swoop up the lucrative South Park streaming rights if Paramount and its partners don’t end this pissing contest quickly.
In a letter to Shell, Park County’s attorneys threatened legal action unless he and his many companies end their alleged meddling in Park County’s negotiations with other entertainment power players. “We hereby demand that you, Redbird, and Skydance immediately cease your interference,” the letter states. “If these activities continue, we will have no choice but to act to both protect our rights and discharge any obligations we may have to the public.”
Park County claims that, as Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery continue to work toward a temporary deal to secure streaming rights for some South Park content on Max between now and 2027, Shell and his colleagues are putting undue pressure on their corporate frenemy to weaken WBD’s offer to Parker and Stone. Park County also claims that Shell and Co. have done the same to Netflix, another potential South Park suitor.
The letter alleges that Shell instructed WBD and Netflix to modify the terms of their bids on South Park in a “manner calculated to benefit Paramount at the expense” of Park County. Specifically, the attorneys say that Shell told WBD to give Paramount an exclusive 12-month window to stream new episodes of South Park, and to drastically shorten the terms of their contract offer to Park and Stone from 10 years to five years.
In response to Park County’s legal threats, a representative from Skydance told The Hollywood Reporter, “Under the terms of the transaction agreement, Skydance has the right to approve material contracts.” Critically, the South Park streaming rights fall under the authority of South Park Digital Studios, a joint venture between Parker, Stone and Paramount that gives the South Park creators the final say in contract negotiations. As Skydance and Paramount try to appease President Trump’s FCC into approving the sale, Skydance does have the right to veto any major contracts made by Paramount in this interim. But as Park County’s lawyers argue, that right doesn’t extend to every other media company interested in the South Park rights.
“You did this behind Park County’s back,” wrote Park County general council in the letter to Shell. “That self-dealing would have been absolutely restricted if it were done by Paramount itself. So, it is simply outrageous that even before it has been granted the authority to close the merger with Paramount, Redbird and Skydance are jumping the gun and using confidential information of SPDS to purport to make demands on behalf of SPDS that even Paramount has no right to make.”
Time will tell if these salient points from South Park’s legal team will impact where the show ends up in 2027, or if Shell and Skydance’s lawyers are currently drawing up a powerful defense. I mean, why would a Wookie want to live on Andor?
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