
‘South Park' Creators Say Skydance Is Blocking $2.5 Billion Deal
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of the animated hit comedy South Park, approached Paramount Global in February, telling the film and TV company that owns the show they want to keep making the series for many more years.
So they began negotiating an extension of their current production deal with Paramount, which expires in 2027. The discussions between the partners coincided with Paramount's efforts to find a new streaming home for the series, a deal worth as much as $2.5 billion. HBO Max, which held the rights, was interested. So were several other companies, including Netflix Inc.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Paramount Is One Step Closer to Ditching the Showtime Brand Entirely
Stop us if you've heard this one before: Paramount+ is undergoing a name change. Well, sort of. Paramount+ on Tuesday announced that its ad-free tier, previously rebranded in January 2023 as Paramount+ With Showtime, will henceforth be known as… Paramount+ Premium. It will remain $12.99/month, and continue to offer full access to Showtime's slate of originals, which include The Chi, Dexter: Resurrection and Yellowjackets. More from TVLine MobLand Renewed for Season 2 at Paramount+ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to End With Season 5 at Paramount+ SkyMed Renewed for Season 4 - Who on the Cast Is Confirmed to Return? Now, here's where things get unnecessarily confusing: The Showtime cable network was also renamed Paramount+ With Showtime in 2023. But rather than go back to just being known as Showtime, the network will retain the Paramount+ With Showtime moniker — at least until Paramount inevitably decides to sunset the Showtime brand entirely. Because we all know that's coming. The Paramount+ With Showtime minus 'With Showtime' news comes six weeks after Warner Bros. Discovery revealed that two years after it rebranded as Max, its streaming service will once again be called HBO Max later this summer. Because time is a flat circle. And it'd be too easy just to call it HBO. Surely, you have snark—err, thoughts to share about the Paramount+ Premium rebrand (why not just call it CBS All Access again?!?) so have at it! Drop 'em in a comment below. Best of TVLine 'Missing' Shows, Found! Get the Latest on Ahsoka, Monarch, P-Valley, Sugar, Anansi Boys and 25+ Others Yellowjackets Mysteries: An Up-to-Date List of the Series' Biggest Questions (and Answers?) The Emmys' Most Memorable Moments: Laughter, Tears, Historical Wins, 'The Big One' and More


The Verge
33 minutes ago
- The Verge
Paramount Plus with Showtime is getting a rebrand
'Paramount Plus with Showtime' has always been one of the more awkward bits of branding to come out of the streaming era, but soon subscribers will know the tier by another name. This week Paramount informed Paramount Plus subscribers that Paramount Plus with Showtime — the platform's most expensive tier that features Showtime programming and minimal ads — will now be referred to as 'Paramount Plus Premium.' The renamed tier will still cost $12.99 per month or $119.99 per year. Paramount Plus Premium will also still offer Showtime's series and catalog of films, but it won't feature the TV network's name. 'Since we recently introduced a sampling of Showtime programming to the Essential plan, the Premium plan name reflects the broad and diverse offerings across both plan tiers,' Paramount said in a support post about the new tier name. 'Showtime programming remains an important part of Paramount+, and is still prominently represented on the service!' The clunkiness of the 'Paramount Plus with Showtime' branding felt like a reflection of the rockiness that marked Showtime's integration into Paramount Plus and the subsequent shutdown of Showtime's standalone streaming service. Paramount executives warned employees about potential layoffs after CEO Bob Bakish first announced plans for a merger with Showtime back in 2023. Several Showtime series were cancelled or halted as a result of the deal, and by the following year, the new service had already gone through two price hikes. As strong as the Showtime brand is, 'Paramount Plus Premium' is definitely a better name. That said, coming so soon after Warner Bros. Discovery's recent decision to pivot back to HBO Max, Paramount's latest move feels very much like a response to the competition. None of us ever called it 'Max, the one to watch,' and WBD was right to stop trying to make that happen. But it's a little wild to see Paramount downplaying its connection to one of the networks that really helped bring cable TV into its own.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Paramount+ With Showtime Streaming Service Gets Renamed ‘Paramount+ Premium'
Paramount Global has quietly erased Showtime from the name of its top-tier streaming package. On June 23, Paramount informed subscribers that the name of its ad-free plan is no longer Paramount+ With Showtime — instead, it's now called Paramount+ Premium. The pricing of the package remains the same: It still costs $12.99 per month or $119.99 per year. More from Variety Gary Levine to Retire From Showtime After 40 Years in Programming 'Dexter: Resurrection' Trailer: Dexter Morgan Is Back in Bloody Revival How to Watch the 2025 UEFA Champions League Final Live Online The two packages now offered by the company are Paramount+ Premium, which does not have ads except in the bundled live local CBS feeds; and Paramount+ Essential with ads ($7.99 per month). The company rebranded the ad-free package as Paramount+ With Showtime in the summer of 2023, and said it would phase out the stand-alone Showtime streamer (which shut down in April 2024). Now, after two years, the company is dropping the Showtime name. 'Since we recently introduced a sampling of Showtime programming to the Essential plan, the Premium plan name reflects the broad and diverse offerings across both plan tiers,' the company said in a notice on its customer-support site about the name change. 'Showtime programming remains an important part of Paramount+, and is still prominently represented on the service!' The name change comes as Warner Bros. Discovery has gone back in the other direction: It's going to reattach the HBO name to its flagship Max streamer, which will this summer become HBO Max again. Meanwhile, in what may potentially cause some confusion, the name of the Paramount+ With Showtime linear TV network on cable, satellite, or internet TV streaming services (like Hulu with Live TV) will not be changing, according to Paramount. Paramount said that depending on a customer's device, they 'may not see the plan name change immediately. But rest assured, if you sign up for the Premium plan while it's still Paramount+ With Showtime, your plan benefits will not be impacted!' Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar