Trey Parker and Matt Stone made a surprise appearance at the TCA summer press tour Saturday to discuss their exclusive deal with Hulu, announced earlier in the day. Under the agreement, all 17 seasons of the animated series will be available to stream via the digital service.
“In the back of our minds, we were always looking for ‘How can we partner with Hulu?’” Stone said. “The exclusivity is something that just reflects the business reality of what’s going on now. What worked six years ago doesn’t necessarily work really well now.”
Six years ago, Parker and Stone launched SouthParkStudios.com, which had been the online home to the entire series run. Under the Hulu deal, SouthParkStudios.com will now house a rotating lineup of 30 episodes, including the most recent. The site will present the episodes via Hulu’s video player. The entire run, including most recent episodes, will be available on Hulu’s site.
The creators also speculated as to how different the launch of South Park might have been had it occurred today.
“I think it would be easier” to launch the series, Parker said. He added, “I can’t imagine, if we had had the ability to just launch something as an Internet show and not be censored at all, South Park probably would have started off even crazier, because we were definitely holding way back.”
Parker and Stone were also asked at what age they would start showing South Park to their own children.
“I’ve just started showing my 10-month-old,” Stone said. “I think she’s ready now. At 9 months, no way.”
