Tag: warner
Warner Bros. Discovery sues Paramount over ‘South Park’ streaming rights
If the Paramount+ South Park movie deal seemed odd when HBO Max scored an exclusive for the series, you’re not alone. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has sued Paramount Global for allegedly breaching parts of the $500 million contract that gave HBO Max streaming rights for South Park in 2019. WBD claims Paramount “blatantly intended” to steer users toward its service by not only offering new specials, but by shortchanging the HBO service on promised regular season content.
HBO Max was reportedly promised three new seasons with 10 episodes each. However, the provider says it only got eight episodes across the two delivered seasons, and that the next season’s six episodes also fall short. On top of this, Paramount supposedly used “verbal trickery” to rebrand content as movies or events to avoid sending video to its competitor.
In a statement to Engadget, Paramount claims the lawsuit is “without merit.” It also maintains that it’s still honoring the contract despite Warner supposedly failing to pay licensing fees for already-delivered South Park episodes. We’ve asked WBD for comment.
The lawsuit isn’t shocking. WBD, previously WarnerMedia, was determined to amass as much content as possible for HBO Max ahead of its 2020 launch, including Friends and Doctor Who. Whether or not Paramount violated its contract, the South Park content on Paramount+ diminishes HBO Max’s content advantage — you no longer have to use that service if you want to stream the recent adventures of Cartman and crew.
Paramount, meanwhile, has multiple reasons to contest the lawsuit. Paramount+ is thriving even as rivals like Netflix run into trouble, having topped 43 million users as of last spring. While it’s unclear how much of a role South Park is playing in that growth, the company may not want to give up streaming rights for one of its best-known shows (Paramount owns Comedy Central, remember) without a fight.
Warner Bros. Discovery to sue Paramount over ‘South Park’ streaming rights
HBO Max’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, is suing Paramount for allegedly failing to honor part of their $500 million deal over the streaming rights to South Park, Variety reports.
The Warner/HBO and Paramount deal was sealed in 2019, when it was determined the popular animated comedy would stream exclusively on HBO Max. In 2021, however, MTV (a Paramount subsidiary) made a separate deal — for $900 million — with show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone for at least five more seasons of the show for Comedy Central, and 14 original movies for Paramount+. Four of those “movies” have already run on Paramount+: South Park: Post Covid, South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid, South Park The Streaming Wars Part 1 and Part 2.
Now, Warner/HBO filed a suit on Friday that alleges that Paramount undermined their deal in attempts to bolster their own streaming service. “When Paramount decided to launch a new streaming platform of its own (“Paramount+”), its priorities changed drastically,” the suit alleges, “and [Paramount] embarked on a multi-year scheme to unfairly take advantage of Warner/HBO by breaching its contract and stealing its content.”
A Paramount Global spokesperson told Variety:
We believe these claims are without merit and look forward to demonstrating so through the legal process…We also note that Paramount continues to adhere to the parties’ contract by delivering new South Park episodes to HBO Max, despite the fact that Warner Bros. Discovery has failed and refused to pay license fees that it owes to Paramount for episodes that have already been delivered, and which HBO Max continues to stream.
South Park is currently airing on HBO Max for its 26th season, with Warner Bros. Discovery considering the show an “anchor” that’s “central to branding and marketing.”
Warner Bros. Discovery sues Paramount in South Park streaming fight
Warner Bros. Discovery is suing Paramount for allegedly “stealing” South Park content it claims it should have the exclusive streaming rights to, as reported earlier by Variety. In a lawsuit filed on Friday, HBO Max’s parent company claims Paramount worked with South Park’s creators and its MTV subsidiary to “divert as much of the new South Park content as possible” to Paramount Plus to attract viewers to the platform.
In 2019, Warner Bros. Discovery says it paid around $1.6 million for each of the over 300 episodes that South Park Digital Studios (SPDS) — a joint venture between Paramount and South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone — agreed to license. Warner Bros. Discovery claims Paramount, which also owns Comedy Central, South…
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Daily Crunch: Falling short of analysts’ estimates, Warner Bros. Discovery posts $2.1B net loss for Q4 2022 by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch
Warner Bros. casually reveal Mortal Kombat 12 is coming this year
The difference between game and film reveals has always been funny to me. Game announcements are accompanied by million-dollar trailers, teased with reveals of reveals, and some fans tiptoe online to avoid the spoilers of a debut trailer. Meanwhile, films are often first revealed haphazardly through an excel sheet five years before they hit, or mentioned casually in an earnings call – which is exactly how Warner Bros. Discovery announced the existence of Mortal Kombat 12.
Mortal Kombat 12 is coming out this year, according to Warner Bros.
Mortal Kombat 12 is coming this year, Warner Bros. boss says
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Ruh-roh Raggy…