Here's Where You Can Watch South Park: The Streaming Wars Online

The long-running and ever-popular adult animated series "South Park" is equal parts crude humor and scathing social commentary. According to IMDb, "South Park" is currently in Season 25 with well over 300 episodes. Created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, "South Park" blasted its way into pop culture in 1997, and since then, the series has created a movie, several two- and three-part episodes, video games, and all manner of merchandise. If you have ever yelled at your cat for attempting to eat your chicken pot pie, cried out in anger at the reoccurring death of a character, know to avoid any sort of chili from a vindictive little boy, and understand how to kill that which has no life, then you probably are a huge fan of the television series.

Typically airing new episodes on Comedy Central, "South Park" has entered a new phase that sees animated specials grace a service other than the aforementioned channel. Although the standard seasons of "South Park" still call Comedy Central home, these specials are found somewhere else, but where? We have already seen specials about the pandemic, and the time that follows it, but where can fans watch the latest special, "South Park: The Streaming Wars?"

Although a name like "South Park: The Streaming Wars" might invoke thoughts of the varying content streaming services, the special is actually about water rights -– this means the word 'streaming' is actually a bit more literal, though it acts as a metaphor at the same time. So where might a "South Park" fan find this brand new addition? Turns out, "The Streaming Wars" is actually only available on Paramount+. The reason that this new special is not being broadcast on Comedy Central boils down to a multi-million dollar deal with ViacomCBS, now known as Paramount.

As reported by Variety, "South Park" will only air on Paramount+ after 2025, or after the show's $500 million deal with HBO for streaming rights expires. However, the "South Park" specials are currently exclusive to Paramount, and according to their website, the service starts at $4.99 per month. That means if you want to watch "The Streaming Wars" or any of the COVID specials, you will need a Paramount+ subscription.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, series creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker discussed this new $900 million deal with Viacom that guarantees Paramount+'s streaming rights until 2027, as well as 14 exclusive specials. "With Viacom, we realized we could make them as long or as short as we needed," Parker said. "And they then went and called them movies." 

"They are the ones who said we are giving them 14 movies in seven years," Parker continued. "All I can say is for me, personally, I am 52 years old, I have made three movies in my life. So you do the math."

Co-creator Stone clarified what makes specials like "The Streaming Wars" different, and stated, "We're trying to make what's on Paramount+ different from anywhere else, so hourlong made-for-TV movies is where our head is at. We'll do two made-for-TV movies every year. They will be big, but they are not quite movie scale." Needless to say, it seems like the one and only place for "The Streaming Wars," as well as the future specials of "South Park," will be on Paramount+, and after 2025, that will be the only place to stream the normal episodes of the popular television series. At least when it comes to "South Park," it appears as if Paramount+ is the winner of the proverbial streaming service wars!