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Trey Parker and Matt Stone launched a website streaming every South Park episode ever made, all for free

First Radiohead, then Trent Reznor, now the boys of South Park are throwing their creations up on the web, free of charge.  Fans of the foul-mouthed children can now catch every full episode online, brought to you by Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s new digital studio.

South Park Digital Studios will be the new home for all South Park related material, including a listing of every episode, 3,000 video clips and avatar creator.  The site also has a slew of other interactive features such as twelve Flash, Shockwave and Java powered mini games, along with the usual downloads section and online retail. 

South Park creators, Parker and Stone, extended their contract with Comedy Central to allow for three more seasons, with episodes through 2011.  Part of the agreement states that Comedy Central will financially back the official South Park site, SouthParkStudios.com.  Along with the agreement, Parker and Stone joined an agreement that gives them equal partnership in their new digital venture.

“Three more years of South Park will give us the opportunity to offend that many more people,” Stone said in a prepared statement. “And since Trey and I are in charge of the digital side of South Park, we can offend people on their cellphones, game consoles, and computers too. It's all very exciting for us.”

For those of you who like it crude, new episodes will be streaming uncensored.  That’s right, now you get to hear what Cartman is actually screaming about without the obnoxious bleeps.

Just like with television, viewers will still have to put up with advertisements during episodes.  It’s not all bad though; the ads are fairly short, but there are about three per episode.  But still seems like a price fans who can't afford the DVDs would be willing to pay.

Recently, Radiohead and Trent Reznor took the initiative of offering their work online, free of charge.  With the amount of publicity both the political alt-rockers and Nine Inch Nails frontman received, and financial revenues, its no surprise other artists are finally jumping on the internet bandwagon.

The South Park fansite is currently in its beta stage and it only available within the United States.


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not quite
By TomCorelis (blog) on 3/24/2008 6:12:24 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
First Radiohead, then Trent Reznor, now the boys of South Park are throwing their creations up on the web, free of charge. Fans of the foul-mouthed children can now catch every full episode online, brought to you by Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s new digital studio.
This is not like Reznor or radiohead at all. It doesn't let you watch episodes on your own terms -- you have to watch them on the site. No possibility of downloading episodes, therefore no different than what NBC or the others have been doing. Free, yes, but with strings attached.




RE: not quite
By TomCorelis (blog) on 3/24/2008 6:13:52 PM , Rating: 2
Also, as Necaradan666 said, not available worldwide. Don't you just love distribution agreements?


RE: not quite
By mmntech on 3/24/2008 8:39:37 PM , Rating: 3
Yep, sucks Canada can't see it. They'd have to make an agreement with CTV, which airs the episodes six months behind for some reason. Some arse backwards CRTC rule no doubt. Same reason the episodes took so long to get up on iTunes. I have clandestine means of seeing the latest episodes before they air here.


RE: not quite
By gerf on 3/24/2008 9:00:17 PM , Rating: 3
Well, MrTwig.net has been offering SouthPark downloads for free for years now, and don't restrict where it's downloaded from!


RE: not quite
By mmntech on 3/24/2008 9:21:53 PM , Rating: 2
That's not the site I use. It's not P2P though.
Just found some good news. The Comedy Network in Canada is starting season 12 this Friday rather than waiting for September like they've done in the past. I forgot that that thecomedynetwork.ca now streams most South Park episodes including recent ones.


RE: not quite
By bryanW1995 on 3/24/2008 11:50:53 PM , Rating: 4
why are you so mad? why don't you listen to your bryan adams cd's? At least you guys have terrance and philip...


RE: not quite
By rebturtle on 3/25/2008 2:03:37 AM , Rating: 2
....."Blame Canada!...."


RE: not quite
By bighairycamel on 3/25/2008 7:43:18 AM , Rating: 5
Now now, the Canadian government has appologized for Brian Adams on several occasions.


RE: not quite
By daftrok on 3/27/2008 2:57:27 AM , Rating: 2
Mr. Garrison: What is five times two?...Now come on children, don't be shy, just give it your best shot.
Student: Twelve?
Mr. Garrison: OK, now lets try to get an answer from someone who's not a complete retard.


RE: not quite
By BruceLeet on 3/26/2008 3:41:56 AM , Rating: 2
It was a pre-emptive strike for Britney Spears


RE: not quite
By Samus on 3/25/2008 9:23:34 AM , Rating: 2
I thought Canadians hated southpark ;)


RE: not quite
By Rage187 on 3/25/2008 9:26:47 AM , Rating: 2
Blame Canada! Blame Canada!


RE: not quite
By feelingshorter on 3/24/2008 7:23:19 PM , Rating: 3
Obviously, they don't let you download so you have to watch their commercials. And usually, like hulu.com, the online commercials are a lot shorter than the 10 minutes worth when watching on TV. But unlike other shows where it just shows a few of the episodes, this shows ALL episodes.

I don't know what you do for a living, but the fact that you want to be able to download the videos and watch it commercial free WITHOUT PAYING ANYTHING, would be comparable to asking a mechanic to come to your house and fix your car FOR FREE .

If your so demanding, might as well buy the DVDs and rip them to PC? What in this world is free? There are costs to everything, and anyone over 20 with a job should know that by now. I cannot applaud them enough for going this far.

As far as i'm concerned, not even Hulu.com has all episodes of every season of the TV shows (so what if you get 5-6 episodes of a season, lets say you missed 2-3 episodes before the ones offered for free, now what? You'd have no idea whats going on.). So if you missed out a season, you'd still have to buy the DVD. Who are these "others" that you speak of that have been doing this? Link? Examples of TV shows with ALL EPISODES?


RE: not quite
By tspinning on 3/24/2008 7:29:27 PM , Rating: 2
um... my operating system is free :)

one planet
one source
keep spinning


RE: not quite
By TomCorelis (blog) on 3/24/2008 7:50:08 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I don't know what you do for a living
I write for DailyTech.

quote:
Who are these "others" that you speak of that have been doing this? Link? Examples of TV shows with ALL EPISODES?

While I have yet to see TV networks offering an entire 12+ season back-catalog online, most of the other TV networks have been pretty generous in what they've posted online.

I don't have issue with the ads: I have issue with the delivery mechanism. Reznor and Radiohead offered you files to do what you please with, Comedy Central, NBC, South Park, and the rest post it on their website, where you have to watch episodes on their player, in front of your computer. There is a distinct different between the two: one is free, and the other is free*. I want unencumbered downloadable video, not streaming video. One plays on my modded Xbox, my iPod classic, and my Samsung Blackjack phone -- in addition to my Windows media player of choice -- and one doesn't unless I go through pains to streamrip it. Media on my terms, not theirs.

I don't think these desires are unreasonable: there are a million ways to convey a user an ad without removing their control -- just watch regular TV and take a look at all those annoying flyouts that the network injects at the bottom of the screen. YouTube's copied the concept, and it seems to work well for them. What's to say Cartoon Network couldn't offer a bunch of DIVX files with the occasional flyout ad?


RE: not quite
By dluther on 3/24/2008 8:56:18 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I want unencumbered downloadable video, not streaming video. One plays on my modded Xbox, my iPod classic, and my Samsung Blackjack phone


I'm sure that if the "free*" content is received warmly enough, they'll bee offering DIVX downloads for $1.99 each soon enough, certainly for seasons 1-9.

And if you cannot wait that long and you still want it "free**" there are plenty of torrent sites that cater to just that sort of thing.


RE: not quite
By TomCorelis (blog) on 3/24/2008 9:06:59 PM , Rating: 1
And you know what? Most of those torrents have TV networks' flyout ads still in the video!


RE: not quite
By ImSpartacus on 3/25/2008 5:56:39 AM , Rating: 2
Irony. I guess we call that an investment for the advertising boys.


RE: not quite
By FITCamaro on 3/25/2008 8:36:09 AM , Rating: 3
For $1.99 an episode, you'd be better off just buying the DVD box set.


RE: not quite
By ajfink on 3/29/2008 2:39:14 PM , Rating: 2
The streaming system they have now totally blows. I'm unable to pause the stream and let it load/buffer, resulting in inability to actually watch the episodes. Whoever thought that was a good idea should be reprimanded.