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HBO Max’s parent company has filed a lawsuit accusing Paramount Global of failing to honor portions of the $500 million licensing deal it entered into in 2019 for the streaming rights to episodes of South Park.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in New York State Supreme Court, alleges Paramount violated the contract by redirecting “South Park” specials and other content to its own Paramount+ platform.
The lawsuit alleges that Paramount “apparently intended to support Paramount+ at Warner/HBO’s expense” and that Paramount was involved in “multiple and blatant double misrepresentations and breaches of contract.”
“Warner/HBO is bringing this lawsuit to defend its rights and recover hundreds of millions of dollars in damages resulting from defendants’ wrongdoing,” the lawsuit reads.
HBO Max struck a whopping licensing deal with Paramount for the rights to “South Park” episodes in October 2019 as then-parent AT&T prepared to launch the HBO Max streaming platform in May 2020.
“South Park” has been a staple of Paramount Global’s Comedy Central cable channel for more than 25 years. The steady animated comedy, directed by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, is entering its 26th season and has amassed more than 300 episodes to date.
The lawsuit alleges that when HBO Max bid for the streaming rights to “South Park,” it did so with assurances that there would be three new seasons of 10 episodes each. However, the lawsuit alleges that only two episodes were delivered for the first of those seasons and only six for the second. HBO Max expects Season 3 to also consist of six episodes – 14 in total over the three seasons.
The lawsuit alleges that new episodes are far more valuable than old ones and that, as a result, HBO Max dramatically overpaid for the library.
Meanwhile, MTV — a Paramount subsidiary — announced a $900 million deal with Parker and Stone in 2021 for exclusive “South Park” content that would air on Paramount+. In the press release, an MTV exec was quoted as saying that the deal “would help fuel Paramount+.”
The suit also quotes Stone as saying, “We’ve got money for you now,” in reference to the deal.
HBO Max argues that the deal required redirecting content that should have been covered under the 2019 deal to Paramount+ instead. The lawsuit alleges that Paramount engaged in “verbal tricks” and “grammatical sleight of hand” and characterized the new content as “movies,” “films,” or “events” — but not “episodes” — in order to fulfill its obligations under the to escape agreement 2019.
As part of the MTV deal, Paramount+ would receive 14 made-for-streaming movies. Four of these “movies” have already aired on Paramount+: “South Park: Post Covid”, “South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid”, “South Park The Streaming Wars Part 1” and “South Park The Streaming Wars”. Part 2.”
