Los Angeles Times reports that the two parties reached a “breakthrough” in negotiations on Monday. According to sources close to the deal, Paramount has agreed to stream South Park globally on Paramount+ for the low, low sum of $300 million per year. The five-year deal hasn’t officially closed as of this writing, but if it does, South Park will reel in $1.5 billion from streaming alone. No wonder the fight got so heated.
To start teasing this whole clusterfuck apart, we have to go back to 2019. Paramount co-owns South Park with Parker and Stone through a joint venture called South Park Digital Studios, but six years ago, made a misstep that has seemingly haunted the company ever since. That year, it sold the show’s digital rights to HBO Max, as Paramount+ had not yet launched. Then, it decided it wanted them back. Those negotiations got ugly this summer as the deal with HBO reached its expiration date in June and Paramount decided to settle its ongoing dispute with Trump in a seeming attempt to gain White House approval of its pending merger a few weeks later. (Yes, the all-consuming settlement is—unsurprisingly—a factor in this story too.) Around the same time, Parker and Stone threatened legal action against Jeff Shell, Paramount’s would-be president if the merger goes through, accusing him of tampering in trade negotiations with other streamers.
While it’s somewhat shocking to see the two parties actually find common ground, LA Times points out that they did have a pretty tight deadline. South Park‘s season 27 premieres this Wednesday on Comedy Central, after previously being delayed several weeks. The outlet also suggests that Paramount and Skydance likely wanted to avoid “any public relations fiascoes” when Parker and Stone present at San Diego Comic-Con this Thursday.
But while this particular dispute may be nearing its end, Parker and Stone’s negotiations with Paramount aren’t over entirely. The outlet reports that the two parties have been separately negotiating a different overall contract for Parker and Stone, which would go into effect after their current $900 million deal to keep producing seasons for Comedy Central expires in 2027. Parker and Stone’s team is reportedly seeking a higher valuation. We’ll see just how messy this conversation gets in the coming weeks and months.
