NEW YORK– Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. is taking legal action against Paramount Global, stating its rival aired brand-new episodes of the popular animated funny series “South Park” after Warner spent for special rights.
Warner states it signed an agreement in 2019 paying more than $500 million for the rights to existing and brand-new episodes of the profane program, according to a suit submitted Friday in New York State Supreme Court.
HBO Max, Warner’s streaming platform, was set up to get the very first episodes of a brand-new “South Park” season in2020 The business was notified the pandemic halted production, the claim states.
In spite of Warner’s unique rights to the program up until 2025, the business declares South Park Digital Studios, which produces the programs and is called as an offender in the claim, provided 2 pandemic-themed specials to Paramount, which aired them in September 2020 and March2021
The suit declares the pandemic specials must have been used to Warner under the preliminary agreement. The relocation, called “spoken hoax” in the suit, drove the program’s fans to the completing Paramount platform. Almost all South Park episodes premiere on Comedy Central, among Paramount’s cable television channels, the suit states.
Show developers Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who released the program in 1997 and supervise the franchise, were not called in the suit.
Gaining streaming rights to “South Park” is a competitive procedure since of the possibly profitable market bring in more customers, marketers and a devoted fan base that Warner’s claim states consists primarily of young people.
The 24- page court filing likewise points out a $900 million handle 2021 in between a Paramount subsidiary and South Park Digital Studios for unique material on the Paramount Plus streaming service, which introduced the very same year.
Warner declares the offer was a purposeful “plan” in between Paramount, its subsidiary MTV Entertainment Studios and South Park Digital Studios to “divert as much of the brand-new South Park material as possible to Paramount Plus in order to enhance that nascent streaming platform.”
Warner paid $1,687,500 per episode and declares it has actually not yet gotten all episodes covered by the agreement, leading to damages of more than $200 million.
Paramount Global did not instantly react to e-mails from The Associated Press looking for discuss the claim.