South Park creators sign $900m deal to make seasons and movies

The creators of the South Park cartoons have signed a $900m (£646m) deal with US media giant ViacomCBS.

The agreement will see Trey Parker and Matt Stone make new South Park episodes for the Comedy Central network.

The pair are also set to create more than a dozen spinoff movies for Viacom's Paramount+ streaming service.

The first project of the deal will be a South Park film scheduled for release later this year.

The agreement, which runs to the end of 2027, includes six seasons of the South Park TV show and 14 movies.

"Matt and Trey are world-class creatives who brilliantly use their outrageous humour to skewer the absurdities of our culture and we are excited to expand and deepen our long relationship with them to help fuel Paramount+ and Comedy Central," Chris McCarthy of MTV Entertainment and Paramount+ said in a statement.

Parker and Stone even made light of the announcement, suggesting that the deal would last a lot longer than officially agreed: "Comedy Central has been our home for 25 years and we're really happy that they've made a commitment to us for the next 75 years."

South Park debuted in 1997, focusing on the exploits of four boys - Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick - in and around the town of South Park in Colorado, USA.

It has become infamous for its strong language and often controversial, dark and surreal humour that satirises a broad range of adult issues.

The creators have produced more than 300 episodes to date and a movie that was released in 1999.

The deal comes as the world's biggest media and technology companies battle for dominance of the global streaming market.

In recent months, the entertainment industry has seen billions of dollars-worth of deals to secure popular content.

In May, Amazon agreed to buy MGM studios for $8.45bn. It is one of Hollywood's most famous studios producing classic films such as Some Like It Hot and Singin' In The Rain.