Paramount countersues Warner Bros in scrap over US$500 million South Park deal

A $US500 million licencing deal is at the heart of a South Park lawsuit. Photo /

The South Park war between Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Global is heating up.

Paramount filed a counterclaim in the lawsuit it is defending from Warner Bros over a US$500 million ($810m) streaming deal involving Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s irreverent animated series.

Paramount’s counterclaim alleges Warner Bros has not paid it US$52 million in licensing fees despite, it argued, getting everything that was outlined in the mega deal. Warner Bros’s legal action claims Paramount has not fulfilled its obligations under the terms.

A statement from a Paramount spokesperson, as reported by Variety, said, “Warner Bros. Discovery has indefensibly refused to pay the more than $US50 million it owes for South Park content that it has indisputably 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.”

HBO Max is the primary streaming platform for Warner Bros. in the US and houses the 300-plus episode of South Park’s back catalogue.

The archival South Park episodes are not in dispute. The core of Warner Bros’ beef with Paramount is new South Park work.

Warner Bros signed a $US500 million deal with Paramount in 2019 for the exclusive streaming rights to three new seasons of South Park as well as the library. Warner Bros alleged the understanding was the three new seasons would consist of 10 episodes each, consisting of a total of 30 episodes.

Instead, what was delivered was 14 episodes – two episodes for the first, and six each for the second and third.

Then, in 2021, Parker and Stone signed a $US900 million deal with Paramount subsidiary MTV for 14 South Park streaming movies and specials, which would be available on HBO Max streaming rival Paramount+.

Warner Bros contended that Paramount engaged in “verbal trickery” and “grammatical sleight-of-hand” to carve out the specials and movies for Paramount+, and that developing those titles diverted resources away from the three TV seasons it had bought.

In Paramount’s counterclaim, the studio alleged there were no specific episode counts in the term sheet of its deal with Warner Bros, which meant it wasn’t obliged to deliver a set number of episodes across the three seasons.