The streaming rights rollercoaster appears to be over for South Park, with news that Paramount+ has reached a deal for the Comedy Central series totaling $1.5 billion.
The agreement would resurrect South Park on international Paramount+ services (where the show was pulled earlier this month as this deal expired) and for the first time will make regular series episodes available on the platform’s U.S. lineup, following the expiration of its longstanding HBO Max agreement. The deal is valued at $300 million per year over a five year period.
This news means that Paramount Global has made good on its May 2025 promise to investors to bring South Park to Paramount+ U.S. “starting this July.” Paramount has not yet offered official comment on the new deal.
Negotiations for South Park‘s streaming future have been fraught. According to a recent Hollywood Reporter story, Paramount had previously outlined a deal with the show’s creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, under their Park County banner, which would have spanned 10 years and cost $3 billion, but Paramount’s prospective purchaser Skydance wouldn’t go for it. Parker and Stone leveraged accusations that Skydance, RedBird Capital Partners and incoming Paramount Global President Jeff Shell (RedBird’s Chairman of Sports and Media) were interfering with negotiations with other streamers, including HBO Max.
When it was announced that the Season 27 premiere of South Park had been pushed back two weeks (tomorrow, July 23, is the big day), Parker and Stone took to X to release a statement declaring the Paramount/Skydance merger “a sh-t show” that was “f—ing up South Park.”
The series creators are currently also renegotiating an overall deal with Paramount to continue producing new episodes for Comedy Central. The current agreement, cinched in 2021 for and estimated $900 million and including the made-for-Paramount+ event specials, runs through 2027.
[Source: Los Angeles Times via Variety]
