In this image released by Comedy Central, characters, from left, Kyle, Kenny and Stan are shown in a scene from the animated series, "South Park." (AP Photo/Comedy Central)

Sure, it's great to catch reruns of "South Park" on Comedy Central. But what if you could watch any of its 247 episodes whenever you want, for free?

Now you can, thanks to the shows' new partnership with Hulu. On Saturday, July 12 at the Television Critics Academy press tour, the streaming service announced that it will be the exclusive online home for "South Park" starting the same day. Up until the premiere of the show's eighteenth season on September 24, every episode of the animated comedy will be available to watch for free. After Season 18 begins, there will still be some episodes available for free on both Hulu and the show's official site, but only Hulu Plus subscribers will have access to the entire "South Park" library.

"South Park" creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone said at the Television Critics Association press tour on Saturday that they had long admired how Hulu operates.

"We were first trying to figure out how we can rip off their player -- how we can just steal their technology," Stone said. "And then we realized we couldn’t. So we’d better just do it the old way" and strike a deal with the site.

Stone and Parker both said that if "South Park" debuted online now, it might have gotten bigger even sooner. If nothing else, "it would be easier to get it seen," Stone said.