Love them or hate them, it’s hard to dismiss the comedic brain trust behind the squeaky-mouthed, squeaky-voice animated sitcom South Park. What started out as a college cartoon short and quickly grew into Comedy Central’s flagship series, South Park provided a source of generational wealth for co-creators (and writers, directors and voice actors) Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
The latest illustration of that came on Thursday in the form of a new content deal with Comedy Central parent company CBSViacom and its streamer Paramount Plus, tied to a salary so gigantic it would put south park perpetually dying character, Kenny, in cartoon cardiac arrest.
Prepare for the South Park Cinematic Universe
With 24 seasons, over 300 episodes, and an Oscar nominated film already in the bag, it’s easy to wonder how much more South Park the world needs. The answer, apparently, for the subscriber and the missing content of the Paramount Plus streaming service, is much more.
And CBSViacom is ready to pay dearly:
- The new agreement will keep South Park on Comedy Central for six more seasons, along with plans for Parker and Stone to pump 14 originals South Park movies over the next six years with exclusive availability on Paramount Plus.
- The total contract price: $ 900 million. This should be more than enough to fund the low-budget 2D animation of the series.
If you can’t beat them … Outbid them later? Perhaps most important is what the deal doesn’t include, which is the streaming rights of south park the entire back catalog. And why was this invaluable feature left out? Parker and Stone’s earlier contracts with Viacom have given the duo (via their production house Park Country) considerable control over the show’s streaming rights. And in October 2019, HBO Max outbid CBSViacom to purchase the full rights to the back-catalog for around $ 500 million.
But why pay $ 500 million for over 100 hours of iconic television when you can pay $ 900 million for spinoff movies and a few new seasons?