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<\/a><\/p>\nNEW YORK (Reuters) – Paramount Global has filed a countersuit against Warner Bros Discovery Inc over the rights to stream “South Park,” the popular animated comedy featuring foul-mouthed children.<\/p>\n
In a Wednesday night filing in a New York state court in Manhattan, Paramount is seeking to collect more than $52 million of license fees that Warner has allegedly refused to pay, and hundreds of millions of dollars that Warner still owes.<\/p>\n
The litigation stems from Warner’s 2019 agreement to pay Paramount and “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone more than $500 million for the exclusive right to stream more than 300 existing episodes and 30 new “South Park” episodes domestically on HBO Max.<\/p>\n
Warner sued Paramount in February, claiming that Paramount attempted to circumvent that agreement by providing only 14 new episodes, and diverting other new “South Park” content to its Paramount+ streaming service.<\/p>\n
In its response, Paramount denied that any breach occurred, and said Warner has “indicated” it will not pay more than $225 million of fees still owed.<\/p>\n
It wants a judge to order Warner to pay those fees, plus the payments missed in December 2022 and March 2023.<\/p>\n
Warner’s “wholesale refusal to pay for any of the ‘South Park’ content it admits it has received and is continuing to exploit constitutes a clear and knowing breach of its obligations,” Paramount said.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Thursday, Warner said Paramount “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 [South Park].”<\/p>\n
“South Park” was launched in August 1997 on Comedy Central, owned by Paramount.<\/p>\n
The case is WarnerMedia Direct LLC v Paramount Global et al, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 651001\/2023.<\/p>\n
\n(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)<\/p>\n
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