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Paramount has filed $52 million in counterclaims against HBO in a bitter legal battle over the “South Park” show library, court papers show.
In February, HBO – through parent company WarnerMedia Direct – sued Paramount claiming it reneged on a $500 million deal giving HBO the rights to the hit animated series.
But Paramount has fired back in court papers, claiming it’s held up its end of the bargain — but that HBO “began to regret” terms it agreed to, is now withholding $52 million in payments and says it won’t fork over the remaining $225 million unless it gets 14 more episodes.
While HBO’s lawsuit claimed it only got 16 of 30 promised episodes for the three new seasons of the show, Paramount contends the contract “did not specify any minimum required number of episodes” for new seasons 24 through 26.
Paramount says under terms of the deal, HBO agreed to a $1,687,500 fee for each of the 300 plus “South Park” episodes, payable in quarterly increments of $26 million over five years through 2025.
“Despite receiving all of the content required under the term sheet, WarnerMedia apparently began to regret the actual terms of the deal it made,” Paramount’s lawyers wrote in the Manhattan Supreme Court papers.
HBO continues to stream the 318 episodes of the irreverent comedy series – including old and new seasons — as well as a documentary about how the show is made, the new court papers claim.
Yet, it’s refused to pay the last two quarterly bills for $26 million and says it doesn’t intend to pay the rest of the contract unless it gets 14 more episodes “that do not exist” as well as the made-for-streaming “South Park” content Paramount has on its platform, Paramount claims.
HBO is refusing to pay while “South Park Studios held up its end of the bargain,” the new court papers allege.
In its February suit, HBO claimed it was supposed to get the rights to the entire library of past episodes that originally aired on Comedy Central and CBS, and that it was also supposed to receive the rights to 30 new episodes for the 24 through 26 seasons.
HBO alleged it only got 16 episodes and that meanwhile, Paramount was also making its own “South Park” content to stream on the Paramount+ app while HBO held the exclusive rights to the show.
A spokesperson with Paramount Global said “Warner Bros. Discovery has indefensibly refused to pay more than $50 million it owes for ‘South Park’ content that it has undisputedly received, and which HBO Max continues to air and exploit.”
The rep said that HBO’s argument that Paramount still owed it episodes “is baseless and wholly unsupported” by the contract.
“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,” the statement continued.
“We believe that Paramount and South Park Digital Studios embarked on a multi-year scheme of unfair trade practices and deception, flagrantly and repeatedly breaching our contract, which clearly gave HBO Max exclusive streaming rights to the existing library and new content from the popular animated comedy South Park,” an HBO Max spokesperson said in a statement Thursday.
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