On Tuesday, a judge ruled in favor of Paramount Global on certain claims in a lawsuit brought by Warner Bros. Discovery earlier this year regarding streaming rights to the long-running animated series “South Park.”
New York state Supreme Court Justice Margaret Chan determined that Paramount did not violate state consumer protection laws when its streaming platform, Paramount+, hosted “South Park” specials.
This decision comes after Warner alleged in a February lawsuit that Paramount deceptively withheld these specials and other “South Park” content to enhance its Paramount+ offerings.
In 2019, Warner paid $500 million to Paramount for the streaming rights to more than 20 seasons of “South Park” episodes on HBO Max, now rebranded as Max.
At the time, Paramount suggested sharing the rights across both companies’ streaming platforms, but Warner rejected this proposal. The series is a prominent feature on Paramount’s Comedy Central channel.
Subsequently, Paramount released “South Park: Post Covid” in 2021 and “South Park: The Streaming Wars” in 2022, exclusively on Paramount+.
These releases prompted Warner to file a lawsuit, seeking hundreds of millions of dollars, and claiming that Paramount’s actions led Warner to overpay under their agreement.
In April, Paramount countersued, seeking $50 million in unpaid fees from Warner and denying any breach of the agreement.
However, Chan dismissed the counterclaim in October, ruling that Paramount did not make false statements in its original 2019 agreement regarding the specials.
Warner’s lawsuit also claimed that Paramount’s actions misled consumers and caused confusion over which streaming platform had rights to the series.
On Tuesday, Chan dismissed this claim, stating that Warner’s allegation was simply a “private contract dispute” that did “not harm consumers.”
She further noted that Warner’s complaint and supporting materials failed to demonstrate any “deceptive practices” by Paramount.
Warner’s other claims, including breach of contract, tortious interference, and unjust enrichment, remain active.
Chan has scheduled a preliminary conference between the two parties for December 13.
