Tuesday saw a judge rule in favor of Paramount Global on a few claims made by Warner Bros. Discovery in a lawsuit filed earlier this year regarding the streaming rights to the popular animated series “South Park.”
Justice Margaret Chan of the New York State Supreme Court ruled that Paramount had not broken any state consumer protection laws following the airing of “South Park” specials on its streaming service, Paramount+. The ruling comes after Warner filed a lawsuit in February, claiming that Paramount had falsely withheld the specials and other “South Park” content in order to increase the value of its Paramount+ offerings.
Requests for comment from the companies’ representatives were not immediately answered.
In 2019, Warner paid Paramount $500 million for the streaming rights to the entire 20-season back catalog of “South Park” episodes on HBO Max, now known as Max. Warner turned down Paramount’s proposal to divide the rights among the streaming platforms of the company at the time. Comedy Central, a channel owned by Paramount, regularly airs the series.
Afterwards, South Park: Post Covid and South Park: The Streaming Wars would be released by Paramount, only on Paramount+, in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Warner filed the lawsuit in response to the releases, claiming that it is owed hundreds of millions of dollars. Warner further claimed that Paramount made it overpay for the terms of the contract.
In April, Paramount filed a countersuit against Warner, claiming $50 million in unpaid fees and refuting claims that the business had broken the contract. Chan would later reject the counterclaim in October, finding that Paramount had not made any false claims about the specials in the initial 2019 agreement.
In its lawsuit, Warner further claimed that Paramount’s actions deceived consumers and caused misunderstandings regarding which streaming service owned the rights to the animated series.
Warner’s claim was rejected by Chan on Tuesday, stating that the accusation amounted to nothing more than a “private contract dispute” and that it “did not harm consumers.” Chan said that there was insufficient evidence of “deceptive practices” by Paramount in the complaint or the materials provided by Warner.
Warner continues to pursue claims for unjust enrichment, tortuous interference, and breach of contract.
Chan set up an initial meeting between the two groups on December 13.