The media giant Paramount Global is trying to avoid a transmitted future without Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny.
As Paramount struggles to complete a key fusion, the company is in the midst of prolonged negotiation to extend one of its largest and most important franchises: the long cartoon duration “South Park”.
The general agreement of $ 900 million of Paramount with the creators of “South Park” Matt Stone and Trey Parker do not expire for another two years. The new episodes are first executed on the basic cable network network of Central Paramount.
But efforts to renew that company and take the program to the Paramount+ Transmission Service have affected a great inconvenience, according to three people familiar with discussions that were not authorized to speak publicly.
The situation highlights the deep tensions and disagreements when a trio of executives tries to administer supreme until the sale of the company to the media of David Ellison, which has the right to approve or deny great offers such as the “South Park pact” under the Pacta de Paramount.
Paramount's leaders are desperate to block the “South Park” transmission rights in the United States and abroad. For a long time they have been frustrated by a license agreement made six years ago by the previous regime that sent the program to rival HBO Max, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. That agreement expires this month.
“South Park” is one of Paramount's most important series. Together with “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”, the four children and their celebrity review forms placed the central comedy on the map for basic cable viewers, assuming hot issues that include Scientology, The War on Terror, the Royal Family and the Trump administration.
During a May Profit Call, the Executive of the Paramount Co -President, Chris McCarthy, who directs Paramount's media networks, as well as Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios, he told investors that the “South Park” episodes would begin to be transmitted in Paramount+ in July.
However, Paramount has not achieved the transmission rights to “South Park”, according to the three people familiar with conversations. From the beginning of this year, Paramount has made at least one offer to Parker and Stone as an early extension of his general agreement.
The company also wants to ensure the rights to transmit the 333 episodes of “South Park” in Paramount+.
Some of the people with knowledge expect the “South Park” distribution rates to be valued at more than $ 200 million a year.
But Skydance has not signed, believing that the agreements are too rich, according to the sources. Paramount executives believe that the program is worth the great dollars, given the lasting popularity and legacy of the program.
The representatives of Paramount and Skydance declined to comment.
The Hollywood agent, Ari Emanuel, whose firm WME represents Parker and Stone, defended the management of the telephone by phone situation.
“No one has rejected anything. They are just doing their analysis,” Emanuel told Times in a brief interview. “We have offers from other distributors. Everyone wants this show.”
Paramount's acquisition of $ 8 billion of Skydance has been in a tenure pattern for months while the two companies expect the approval of federal regulators. Skydance, backed by the technological tycoon Larry Ellison and Redbird Capital Partners, is anxious to take care of the company Media.
They intend to bring greater financial rigor to Paramount's operations, other sources have said. Paramount and Skydance have told Wall Street that the agreement will bring $ 2 billion in cost savings, with half of that in the first year.
The deadlines are coming. The new season, the 27 of the program, is scheduled to debut on July 9 at Comedy Central.
Unless Paramount reaches an agreement with the creators before June 23, the company runs the risk of losing the transmission rights of the franchise because Parker and Stone could buy the show from other interested streamers, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Hulu. However, the sources warned that negotiations could pass the June deadline and that the parties expect an agreement to be made.
Represented by his former lawyer Kevin Morris, who leads the current negotiations, the duo forged the rights of the Internet almost two decades ago. They formed a joint business with Paramount (then known as Viacom) called South Park Digital Studios. That decision was very lucrative for Parker and Stone, also known by Broadway's successful musical “The Book of Mormon.”
Paramount directs the joint company with Stone and Parker, sharing the control of the transmission rights of the show that was launched in 1997 in Central Comedy, although the duo can veto the transmission agreements that are unfavorable.
In general, companies are not supposed to be deeply in the affairs of another company. Federal antitrust laws prohibit the so -called jump of arms, when an acquirer company begins to take the shots before the official closure of an agreement. But Paramount agreed to accept Skydance's contribution on high -cost expenses while the two parties wait for the treatment to close.
The transmission rights negotiations of the “South Park” have also been complicated by a lawsuit filed two years ago by Warner Bros. Discovery. That company accused Paramount of violating the terms of its 2019 license pact for “South Park”, after Warner paid around $ 540 million for the program transmission rights.
Paramount and the creators of “South Park” developed specials with the four animated children in a fictitious city of Colorado Mountain to transmit exclusively in Paramount+. Warner argued that the measure violated his license agreement. HBO Max declined to comment.
Two years after the HBO Max agreement, Paramount reached a new agreement with Parker and Stone for $ 900 million, seal their association and guarantee new episodes of “South Park”. This agreement extends until 2027, although Paramount executives have offered to extend that agreement for several years.
Paramount has intended to change the program to Paramount+ as soon as the HBO Max agreement expires.
The various parts have long imagined a scenario in which national and international rights would be shared by at least two different transmission services. Although none of the partners would have exclusive rights, the current trend on television is that the studies maximize income to help pay expensive programs, such as “South Park”, while maintaining some transmission rights.
Paramount has also been dealing with another crisis that has been complicated by Skydance fusion. The company has tried to resolve the demand of $ 20 billion by President Trump that alleges that the subsidiary CBS News deceptively edited an “60 minutes” interview with the then vice president Kamala Harris, an accusation that CBS denies.
Trump's case has not been resolved, and the Federal Communications Commission has taken to review the acquisition proposed by Skydance of Paramount, extending the review of the agreement.
The Skydance transaction has been pending in the FCC since the past fall, leaving Paramount executives in Limbo.
