Paramount Ponies Up Over $2 Billion for South Park

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Paramount has inked roughly $2 billion in deals to exclusively stream past episodes of South Park and produce a new batch of the R-rated animated TV series — potentially the biggest TV deal ever.

The Big Picture: As more data is released, showing just how much overall viewing time on streamers is relegated to a small subset of popular titles, the battle to secure those films and shows has heated up. The deal highlights how South Park (still among the top 20 most-watched shows despite debuting in 1997) remains one of the most enduring IPs in Hollywood.

Behind the Scenes: For Paramount — still trailing its competitors in streaming market share — snapping up the rights to one of its marquee shows became a high-stakes, go-for-broke negotiation.

  • The deal with Park County, the production company run by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, spans five years at the tune of $300 million annually.
  • It allows Paramount to stream all past episodes on Paramount+ — the first time it’s ever streamed there in the US.
  • Paramount tried to split the cost with Warner Bros. Discovery (South Park’s previous license holder) for a co-streaming deal, but those talks fell apart.
  • Paramount also negotiated a separate five-year overall deal with Parker and Stone at the studio, valued at $250 million per year. It calls for Park County to produce 50 new episodes of South Park for Comedy Central.

New Season: Nailing down South Park was of the utmost importance to both the existing and incoming Paramount regime. Parker and Stone were preparing for a legal battle amid ongoing merger drama, which is the last thing that anyone wanted before the premiere of the 27th season today (and a separate high-profile Paramount movie with Kendrick Lamar coming out next summer).

In the end, the agreement is just another reminder that the South Park guys probably have the best deal in town. Thanks to a joint venture with Paramount called South Park Digital Studios, Park County receives about half of the streaming revenue generated by the show… which means even more money for Parker and Stone.

Up Next: South Park on Paramount+ could finally give the streamer the edge to become a mainstay subscription for audiences… as long as they never lose Taylor Sheridan.

David Vendrell

Born and raised a stone’s-throw away from the Everglades, David left the Florida swamp for the California desert. Over-caffeinated, he stares at his computer too long either writing the TFP newsletter or screenplays. He is repped by Anonymous Content.

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