The cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has been the big industry story of the last week. CBS claimed it was “purely a financial decision” to end the highest-rated late-night talk show on network television, and “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.” Those “other matters” CBS was referring to are almost certainly the ongoing acquisition of CBS’s parent company, Paramount, by David Ellison’s Skydance Media. Critics have been quick to point out all the ways that the merger likely did influence CBS’s decision, from Colbert’s criticism of Paramount settling Trump’s lawsuit against 60 Minutes to Ellison’s own political leanings, but The Late Show isn’t the only show caught in the crosshairs of the merger. Skydance also directly endangered Paramount’s negotiations with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone over their next big overall deal for the future of the series.
Reportedly, before the merger kicked into high gear, Paramount — which also owns Comedy Central, home of South Park — had struck a sort of handshake deal with Park County, Parker and Stone’s production company. The basic framework of the deal would have amounted to a $3 billion payout over 10 years for the continuing adventures of the foul-mouthed little cartoon children in Colorado. Skydance, however, was uncomfortable being locked into such a pricey contract for a decade, and pushed to shorten the extension to a five-year deal. The crux of the issue was whether Skydance should have any say in the matter at all; Skydance argued it has the right to approve new contracts while the merger is being pursued, while Parker and Stone’s team obviously disagreed. As negotiations stalled, Paramount was forced to pull South Park from its international streaming platforms until a new contract was in place, while Parker and Stone prepared to potentially sue Skydance itself for interference.
All that seems to be over, however. Today the Los Angeles Times broke the news that a deal had been reached ahead of South Park’s 27th season premiere on July 23rd. Paramount will pay out $1.5 billion over five years ($300 million per year) for global streaming rights to South Park, bringing the series home to Paramount+ in the US after the show’s previous deal with HBO Max ran out in June. In exchange, Parker and Stone will continue to make ten new episodes a year, and presumably not trash-talk their new corporate overlords when they take to the stage at San Diego Comic-Con later this week. While this deal is separate from Parker and Stone’s ongoing contract negotiations for producing the long-running hit, it may be a taste of what’s to come. Skydance won the battle to shorten the deal’s duration, but they ultimately agreed to pay the same yearly fee Paramount had promised the duo from the start — and Parker and Stone have made it clear they’re looking for a hefty raise for their next contract.
So to recap: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which supposedly lost tens of millions of dollars despite the ratings, was worth tossing by the wayside entirely, but South Park, a Comedy Central cartoon that airs just ten episodes a year, is worth spending literally billions on. Financially, there’s no arguing Parker and Stone have a lot of pull, thanks in part to the unique deal they cut for South Park in the early days of streaming. Back in 2007, Park County secured 50% of the show’s streaming revenue through a joint venture with Paramount called South Park Digital Studios, which also means that Paramount stands to earn back the other half of the license fee it has agreed to pay. Corporate math is wild, y’all!
If the rumors are true that Paramount’s decisions have been more politically motivated of late, then it seems weird to bank on the show that once referred to a presidential nominee as a “turd sandwich.” Firing Colbert may have appeased the Toddler in Chief in the short term, but now Paramount, and in all likelihood Skydance, are on the hook for one of the most lucrative content deals out there, with a litigious pair of creators who have shown themselves willing to take aim at anyone or anything they so desire. Basically, Paramount is paying an exorbitant amount of money to put themselves between an orange rock and a cold, hard place. Trump will sue them if South Park is mean to him, and Parker and Stone will sue them if they try to tell them what to do.
I’ll admit I haven’t watched South Park in a while, but I’ll be tuning in tomorrow night to see if any of these goings-on make their way into the season premiere. Even if the show doesn’t target Trump directly, I can’t help but imagine the playful ways the kids could get involved in some bribery and mergers.
