Paramount+ Solves 1 of its 2 Biggest Blunders: ‘South Park’ to Stream Soon

In the early days of streaming, Paramount wasn’t paying much attention to its shows’ rights. While competitors loaded up their libraries, Paramount didn’t anticipate needing their own content for their own streaming service. That’s why two of the company’s biggest hits: “Yellowstone” and “South Park” have been living on other platforms. But thanks to a mega-dollar deal, “South Park” is coming to Paramount+ for at least the next 5 years.

Unlike the creators of most Paramount shows, the brains behind “South Park” were savvy enough to negotiate streaming rights back in 2007. Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s company gets 50% of “South Park” digital revenue in perpetuity. In 2019, HBO Max struck a deal for “South Park” rights for $550 million. That deal expired in June.

This new deal is worth $300 million per year over the next five years. It gives Paramount+ the “South Park” rerun streaming rights and also 5 more seasons of 10 episodes each.

Side note: If you want to see where a lot of Parker and Stone’s money went, check out the fun documentary “Casa Bonita, Mi Amor” on Paramount+.

Paramount in Freefall

Paramount needed to strike this deal. After all, “South Park” and “The Daily Show” are pretty much the only shows still keeping Comedy Central alive.

The company has been flailing wildly since the announcement of a merger with Skydance Media in July 2024. Primary Paramount shareholder Shari Redstone has been eroding her company’s legacy in a frantic push to see the deal through. Thanks to the quid-pro-quo Trump administration, Paramount brass has been doing everything it can to lick boots.

The company interfered with journalism crown jewel “60 Minutes,” leading to the resignation of Executive Producer Bill Owens.

The company agreed to pay $16 million to Donald Trump over a lawsuit about the commonplace editing of an interview with Kamala Harris.

And when “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert criticized the settlement, Paramount announced it will cancel his show entirely.

The entire company is debasing itself in a bid to get merger approval from Trump’s FCC. It’s gross.

Today, The Hollywood Reporter shared that Paramount may close its Africa offices. This comes after cutting the U.S. workforce by 3.5% in June. Last year, Paramount cut 15% of its American team.

From a streaming standpoint, the “South Park” news is a positive for Paramount+, but I’m beginning to worry how much lower the company will go to please a mad king. And once the merger is approved, there’s no telling what Skydance CEO and nepo-baby David Ellison will do with daddy’s money and an important collection of media assets.