Paramount Plus subscribers outside of the U.S. just got one less reason to renew their subscription. Thanks to an expired license and ongoing negotiations for the rights to the series to continue, Paramount Plus has removed "South Park" from its international catalog.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount hopes to bring the series back soon for all subscribers, but in the meantime, unless you're based stateside or have one of the best streaming VPNs, you're SOL. Only a handful of "South Park" specials made exclusively for Paramount Plus remain on the platform outside of the U.S.
The news of the expired international streaming license comes just days after Comedy Central, a subsidiary of Paramount Global, announced it's delaying "South Park" season 27 to July 23, two weeks after it was initially set to premiere on July 9.
Strangely, while "South Park's domestic streaming license also expired over the summer, you can still watch it on Max in the U.S. Given the show's popularity, it seems Paramount is making an exception for American subscribers as the company remains locked in a streaming rights battle with "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. It just goes to show why Max is still our reigning champ for the best streaming service on the market.
What's all this streaming drama with "South Park"?
Streaming disputes are notoriously weedsy, but here's the long and short of it. Back in 2019, Max secured exclusive U.S. streaming rights for "South Park" in a $500 million deal. When Paramount Plus launched in 2021, international streaming rights shifted to the platform, which is owned by Comedy Central’s parent company.
With Max's deal expiring in June 2025, Paramount Global co-CEO Chris McCarthy went so far as to promise investors earlier this year that "South Park" would come to Paramount Plus in the U.S. "starting this July," according to Deadline. Clearly, he spoke too soon.
Complicating things further is the looming Paramount-Skydance merger, originally set to close on July 6 but is now waiting for FCC approval. The deal would transfer Paramount’s broadcast licenses to Skydance, including the two years left on its $900 million deal for the digital rights to "South Park."
Meanwhile, Parker and Stone have been in talks with Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns Max, and Netflix over "South Park's" streaming rights, believed to be non-exclusive. The pair has threatened legal action against Paramount for purportedly interfering with negotiations.
Time is running out to reach a resolution within the next 10 days, as a streaming deal needs to be finalized before "South Park's" Season 27 premieres on July 23. Its premiere has already been delayed once, and could be again if negotiations stretch on. At the very least, U.S. "South Park" fans can still easily watch the show on Max in the meantime, even if their international counterparts aren't so lucky.
