Warner Bros. Discovery isn’t letting Paramount skate over what it alleges was a breach of contract. The two legacy media companies are battling in court over the streaming rights to “South Park,” and the case will move forward after a denial of a motion by Paramount for a partial summary judgment to dismiss some claims. The legal fight will continue, and there’s a decent chance the case will end up in front of a jury before all is said and done.

Key Details:

• Justice Margaret A. Chan of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan said that WBD’s claims against Paramount can go to the discovery phase in a recent ruling.
• The ruling may allow WBD to get its hands on subscriber and profitability metrics from Paramount+.
• The lawsuit stems from WBD’s claim that Paramount convinced South Park Digital Studios to breach its contracts.

WBD’s lawsuit against Paramount will now shift to the discovery phase. That’s thanks to a Tuesday ruling from New York State Supreme Court Justice Margaret A. Chan, who denied Paramount’s efforts to have unjust enrichment claims against it dismissed via summary judgment.

That means the case will move forward to the discovery phase, the next step in getting the lawsuit in front of a jury. Moving to discovery means that WBD could get its hands on key subscriber and profitability metrics from Paramount+ as they relate to “South Park” content.

In the ruling, Justice Chan found that Paramount may have “actively convinced” South Park Digital Studios (SPDS) — a joint venture it operates with the creators of the show — to break a contract with WBD and that it might have “unjustly benefitted” as a result of those actions.

WBD first filed the suit in 2023, alleging that the creation of “South Park” content labeled “specials” and released on Paramount+ were in violation of a contract which it claims gave it exclusive rights to stream “South Park” on its own service Max.

Paramount has argued that SPDS’s contract with WBD applied specifically to episodes for new seasons of the show and that the “specials” it was airing on its own streamer fell outside those parameters. WBD paid $500 million to license the series library, as well as 30 new episodes that would form Seasons 24 to 26 of the long-running animated series.

Tuesday’s ruling means the case isn’t going away any time soon, and that some key statistics that Paramount would likely rather keep private might come out in court. Unless the two parties settle, it appears the lawsuit is headed down the road toward a trial.