South Park Season 27 Premiere Date Pushed Back Amid Streaming Battle: ‘This Merger Is A Sh*tshow’

The premiere date of South Park Season 27 has been pushed back two weeks amid a streaming-rights battle between the show's creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and Comedy Central's parent company, Paramount Global.

Originally scheduled for July 9, the new season of the long-running cartoon show is now set to begin on July 23 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

The delay comes amid a long-pending, $8-billion merger between Paramount Global and Skydance. 

Since October 2019, HBO Max has had the exclusive streaming rights to the series, but that deal expired last month. Now, South Park streaming rights are being shopped to other platforms — with HBO Max parent Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix both reportedly making bids — but Parker and Stone have accused incoming Paramount president Jeff Shell of interfering in their contract negotiations with those streaming platforms.

Following the news of the premiere's postponement, Parker and Stone released a scathing statement regarding the pending merger and streaming battle: "This merger is a sh*tshow and it's f*cking up South Park. We are at the studio working on new episodes and we hope the fans get to see them somehow."

In 2021, Paramount paid the show's creators $900 million for a deal that included new episodes and movies for the South Park series, and, so far, that deal has yielded seven South Park exclusive "events" that are available only on Paramount+.

As for the TV series itself, though, fans have been given only crumbs. Season 26 was released more than two years ago, in March 2023, and consisted of a mere six episodes. 

The trailer for the long-awaited Season 27 dropped in early April.

It's unclear how many episodes will be featured in the upcoming season — hopefully, more than six — but delaying the premiere another two weeks is only adding to the fanbase's growing frustrations.