Battle of the Studios: Paramount Demands $52M in 'South Park' Streaming Revenue from Warner Bros

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  • Paramount Global PARA retaliates months after Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc WBD prosecuted the former over the streaming rights for "South Park."
  • On Wednesday, Paramount hit back at WBD for allegedly withholding two required payments of $26 million each, bringing the total unpaid fees to $52 million.
  • The counterclaim argues that the unpaid fees cover the 318 "South Park" episodes streaming on HBO Max, TechCrunch reports.
  • South Park Studios has abided by the terms of the written Term Sheet. WarnerMedia has not, the countersuit claims. 
  • Instead, despite continuously exploiting and profiting from the 300-plus episodes of South Park that are still available for streaming on HBO Max, Warner Media is refusing to pay tens of millions of dollars in license fees owed to South Park Studios for the right to exploit that content.
  • In February, WBD prosecuted Paramount's South Park Digital Studios and MTV Entertainment. Warner sought hundreds of millions of dollars for Paramount's alleged breach of contract.
  • In 2019, Warner agreed to pay over $500 million to license "South Park," a cartoon Paramount's cable-TV network Comedy Central aired for decades, for its streaming platform HBO Max. 
  • During bidding for the "South Park" rights, Warner allegedly refused to share the rights to the show for Paramount's streaming service when the latter proposed.
  • Price Action: PARA shares traded lower by 2.06% at $22.10 on the last check Thursday.
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