According to a report in Bloomberg, South Park is closing in on a streaming deal that could fetch $450-500 million for the series. The series which airs consists of over 300 episodes, began airing on Comedy Central, starting in 1997. The show is currently available on Hulu, but with series like Friends, The Office, and Seinfeld fetching huge deals for their library — Viacom who owns the series with the shows creators are looking for huge gains.
Possible bidders include Netflix, WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, NBCU’s Peacock, or a renewal with Disney-owned Hulu. Viacom which is merging with CBS could also consider bringing the library to CBS All Access, but it’s unlikely that they could reach the same numbers of the other services.
Streamers have been eager to get rights for legacy TV show. It started with WarnerMedia taking Friends back from Netflix and moving the show to HBO Max, then in June, it was announced that The Office will be moving to NBCU’s Peacock, along with Parks and Recreation. HBO Max then made news when it got exclusive streaming rights to The Big Bang Theory and Netflix soon made their own headlines with the purchase of Seinfeld rights.
Other shows like Sesame Street, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and The West Wing will be available on HBO Max. Just yesterday, there were reports that Community, would be looking for a new streaming partner once their deal with Hulu expired.