‘South Park’ Legal Battle: Judge Rules Against WBD on Certain Claims, Trimming Paramount Lawsuit
As the “South Park” lawsuit between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global wages on, a judge has dismissed two claims brought forth by WBD. Specifically, the claims of “breach of the implied covenant of goof faith and fair dealing” as well as the “violation of New York Business Law” have been dropped.
Moving forward, the judge will still examine whether or not Paramount Global was in breach of its contract with WBD regarding “South Park,” if there was “tortious interference” with the contract and if “unjust enrichment” occurred on behalf of Paramount.
In the lawsuit, Warner Bros. Discovery also noted that it believes Season 26, which aired its first episode in February of this year, also only consists of six episodes. Though its been months since the series has released new episodes, the animated comedy typically has 10 episode seasons.
Essentially, in its third claim — the aforementioned “violation of New York Business Law” — Warner Bros. Discovery alleged releasing “South Park” specials exclusively on Paramount+ was “misleading” to consumers.
Judge Margare A. Chan said “because of the defendants’ conduct, it overpaid” and “lost out on valuable ‘South Park’ content purportedly owed to it.”
At the moment, WBD’s Max has the exclusive streaming rights to the episodic run of the show, which is currently on Season 26. That 2019 deal cost the company $500 million, making “South Park” among one of the most expensive shows when it comes to streaming rights. But in 2021, MTV Entertainment Studios announced that it had inked a new deal with South Park Studios founders and series creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker to release 14 “South Park” “movies” exclusively for Paramount+.
In the original lawsuit, WBD argued that having “South Park” content spread exclusively across two different platforms was confusing to consumers and as a bid from Paramount to push consumers to Paramount+.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.
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