“Logo Text the Premiere for the 27th Season of South Park Later This Month is in Serious Doubt Amid Wrangling Between Series Creates Trey Parker and Matt stone, Paramont Global And. Hollywood Reporter Has Learned. At the Heart of the Dispute: A NEW 10-YEAR, $ 3 Billion Overall Deal for Parker”, – WRITE: www.hollywoodReporter.com
The Premiere for the 27th Season of South Park Later this month is in Serios Doubt Amid Wrangling Between Series Creates Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Paramount Global and Incoming Studio Owner Skydance, The Hollywood Reporter have learned.
At the heart of the dispute: A New 10-Year, $ 3 Billion Overall Deal for Parker and Stone that would be more than Triple the Valuation of the Current Deal That Expires in 2027, Accounting to Pom. Park County, The South Park Pair’s Entertainment Company, Believes It Struck a Basic Framework with Paramount Global on An Agreement. “I THINK THAT PARAMOUNT Pre-Akquisition Was Interest in a Broader Range of Possibilities Than Wuld Have Been Approved by Skydance and Redbird,” An INSIDER CLOSE TO THE NEGOTIIATESS.
But Skydance, WHICH MAINTAINS THAT IT HAS APROVAL Rights on Contracts As It Pursues Regulatory Approval of Its Merger with Paramount, Has of Ather Plans. The Duration of the Proceded Deal Has Emerged As A Sticking Point in Negotias, with Skydance Refusion to An Extension Beyond Five Additional Years Amid-Moving Mediant in Reserves.
“There is no resolution at this time, but all involved recognize the Need for a quica, positive resolution,“ A spokesperson for Park County Said on Monday. Skydance and Paramount Declined to Comment. A Skydance Rept Had Previoously Told Thr that “Under the terms of the transaction agroment, Skydance has the right to Approve Material Contracts.”
IT’s IncreASINGly Likely That Dispute Ends Up in Court. Parker and Stone Have Broght on Bryan Freedman, A Prominent Lawyer and Bulldog Negotiator Known for Aggressive Legal Maneuvering, To Tee Up What Skusa. INCLUDING CEO DAVID Ellison and Jeff Shell, The Redbird Capital Executive Who’ll Be the President of New Paramount If The Merger Is Greenlit – of Interfening in Contract Negotiations. The Alternative Involves A Public Relations Battle in Whole Skydance Couldce See Its Name Splasted Across Headlines As An Another Example of Antertainment Merger Gone Sour.
The Potential Delay to the Season 27 Premiere, Whoh Has Already Been Been Pushed Back Two Weeks Later Than Originally Planned to July 23, Has Surfaced As The Caust Visible of the Dample. The Paramount-Skydance Merger. The Relationship Between Parker and Stone, Amont Sounga-After Creative Duos in Hollywood, And Skydance Is In Question, As Is The Future of The Show After More.
“This Merger is a shitsshow and it’s fucking up South Park. We are at Studio Working on New Episodes and We Hope the Fans Get To See Them Somehow, ‘”Parker and Stone Wrote in A Social Media Post on July 2.
South Park Is Owned by Paramount Through a joint Venture Parker and Stone Operate with The Company Called South Park Digital Studios, Which Is Governed by a Five-Member Board of Managers Partners. The Series is Produced by Park County.
Park County Has An Extraordinarily Unusual Deal, Dating Back to 2007, That Gives The Company About 50 Percent of Streaming Revenue Through The Joint Venture. South Park Was a juggernaut on linear tv and on dvd any streaming Video was still nascent. Park County Began Streaming Episodes on a Dedicated Website with Advertising Support, Thought Later Premium Subscript Services Like Netflix, HBO Max would Change How Streaming Videos Were Monetized Dramatically.
Streaming Deals for the Show Expired On June 30, Forcing An Extension of A Domestic Deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to keep it on hbo max for now. Last Week, Paramount+’S International License to Stream Episodes of the Long-Running Animated Series Expired, Which Led To The Streamer Pulling The Series from ITS GLOBAL SERVICE.
Paramount and Park County Are Both Taking A Hardline Stance in Negotias. WHEN they resumed Discussions Recently, Kevin Morris, A LAWYER FOR PARK COUNTY, REFUSED TO BUDGE from A DECADELONG DEAL WORTH AT LAST $ 3 Billion. In recent years Morris Became a National Known Figure for His Years-Long Legal and Financial Support for Hunter Biden.
Paramount’s Chris McCarthy, Who Runs the Company Two Twoer Co-Ceos, Oversees The Streaming and Television Programming Side of the Studio and Coo Keyes Hill-Edgranes.
The Paramount-Skydance Deal Has Been Held Up in Large Part Due To Its Own Political Dimination Involving President Donald Trump and A Lawsuit Against 60 minutes Over An Interview with Kamala Harris.
One Possible Factor in the Negotias: An $ 800 Million Loan, Which Is Currently Being Shopped To Buyers, That Park County Took In 2023 from Private Equity Firm The Carlyle Group. Parker and Stone Could be Squeezed for Cash to Repay Roughly $ 80 Million in Interest Per Year, Accounting To One Person Knowledge Annuly in a New Deal But Not for Ten Years.
By Skydance’s Thinking, The Interim Operation Agreement Affords The Company to Approve – and Deny – All Material Contracts. Park County Has Maintained that Skydance is Barred from Taking Control and Issuing Directives Until the Merger’s Office Closure. A Legal Battle Is Brewing.
“We Hereby Demand That You, Redbird, and Skydance ImMediaTely CEASE YOUR INTERFERENCE,“ STATED THE LETTER FROM PARK COUNTY TO SENT SENT ON JUNE Act to Both Protect Our Rights and Discharge Any Obligations We May have to the Public. ”
July 14, 8:18 PM Updated to Characterize the New 10-Iear, $ 3 Billion Overall Deal As More Than Tripling The Valuation of the Previos Deal.