How Is the Paramount Merger Holding Up The Next Season of 'South Park'

This morning, the official X account for South Park tweeted out that, thanks to the Paramount merger, which is being held back by the current administration, they have not been able to release new episodes of their show.

Let's back up and go into the merger briefly.

The Merger

Paramount and Skydance have been trying to merge for this entire year. they announced the combination of the companies in July 2024, and the whole $8 billion deal is still pending.

The major hurdle to closing the deal is the pending approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The regulatory body's review has become entangled with a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against CBS, a subsidiary of Paramount, concerning a "60 Minutes" interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Of course, Trump is also President of the United States...so he's sort of in a position here where he can make Paramount pay him the lawsuit cash in order to get him to get the FCC to close the sale of the company.

That pressure has led to Paramount setting the lawsuit for a reported $16 million, which a lot of people see as a bribe to Trump to make the merger happen.

And all of that has caused South Park to hit a standstill.

South Park's Future

Trey Parker and Matt Stone have also threatened action against Paramount’s incoming president for meddling in deals with Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix, favoring Paramount+.

Combine this with the disputes over streaming rights of South Park, and you get a situation like we're in now.

It sounds like the guys and their staff have been making episodes, but without the ability to air them or stream them, they've been shelved until a merger is approved, their contracts are renewed, or they sell the rights to someone else, like Warner Bros.

This is a fascinating case of two of the most in-demand showrunners still making new episodes but being unable to show them to the world because of the sale of the parent studio they're making them for...and also because of an FCC run by a president in a lawsuit.

Let me know what you think in the comments.