If the Paramount+ South Park film deal appeared odd when HBO Max scored an unique for the sequence, you are not alone. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has sued Paramount Global for allegedly breaching components of the $500 million contract that gave HBO Max streaming rights for South Park in 2019. WBD claims Paramount “blatantly intended” to steer customers towards its service by not solely providing new specials, however by shortchanging the HBO service on promised common season content material.
HBO Max was reportedly promised three new seasons with 10 episodes every. However, the supplier says it solely received eight episodes throughout the 2 delivered seasons, and that the subsequent season’s six episodes additionally fall brief. On high of this, Paramount supposedly used “verbal trickery” to rebrand content material as films or occasions to keep away from sending video to its competitor.
In a press release to Engadget, Paramount claims the lawsuit is “without merit.” It additionally maintains that it is nonetheless honoring the contract regardless of Warner supposedly failing to pay licensing charges for already-delivered South Park episodes. We’ve requested WBD for remark.
The lawsuit is not stunning. WBD, beforehand WarnerMedia, was decided to amass as a lot content material as attainable for HBO Max forward of its 2020 launch, together with Friends and Doctor Who. Whether or not Paramount violated its contract, the South Park content material on Paramount+ diminishes HBO Max’s content material benefit — you not have to make use of that service if you wish to stream the current adventures of Cartman and crew.
Paramount, in the meantime, has a number of causes to contest the lawsuit. Paramount+ is prospering at the same time as rivals like Netflix run into bother, having topped 43 million customers as of final spring. While it is unclear how a lot of a task South Park is taking part in in that development, the corporate could not wish to surrender streaming rights for one in every of its best-known exhibits (Paramount owns Comedy Central, bear in mind) with out a struggle.
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