Trey Parker and Matt Stone, co-creators of South Park, have signed a sweeping renewal with ViacomCBS that will keep the show on Comedy Central through 2027 and send 14 original movies to Paramount+.
The official announcement of the deal did not specify a dollar figure but Bloomberg pegged it at $900 million, one of the richest ever. While the new pact is a sign of the company looking to feed its own platforms, ViacomCBS set a lucrative licensing pact with WarnerMedia for a chunk of the show’s library to stream on HBO Max, though it retained many key rights.
Two of the original South Park films will premiere on Paramount+ in 2021, with two a year planned through 2027.
“Matt and Trey are world-class creatives who brilliantly use their outrageous humor to skewer the absurdities of our culture and we are excited to expand and deepen our long relationship with them to help fuel Paramount+ and Comedy Central,” said Chris McCarthy, President/CEO -MTV Entertainment & CCO/Adult Animation – Paramount+. “Franchising marquee content like South Park and developing new IP with tremendous talent like Matt and Trey, is at the heart of our strategy to continue growing Paramount+.”
“Comedy Central has been our home for 25 years and we’re really happy that they’ve made a commitment to us for the next 75 years,” said Parker and Stone. “When we came to ViacomCBS with a different way to produce the show during the pandemic, Chris (McCarthy), Nina (Diaz), Keyes (Hill-Edgar) and Tanya (Giles) were immediately supportive and enabled us to try something new that turned out to be really well received. We can’t wait to get back to doing traditional South Park episodes but now we can also try out new formats. It’s great to have partners who will always take a chance with us.”
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South Park has maintained momentum in its 24th season. The South ParQ Vaccination Special is the top cable telecast of the year, with nearly 3.5 million total viewers. The Emmy-nominated Pandemic Special was cable’s No. 1 scripted telecast of 2020.
Parker, Stone, Anne Garefino and Frank C. Agnone II are the Executive Producers of South Park. Eric Stough, Adrien Beard, Bruce Howell and Vernon Chatman are Producers. Chris Brion is the Creative Director of South Park Digital Studios.