Netflix lost the international rights to Star Trek: Discovery and fans are mad.
International Star Trek fans have every right to be mad about not having access to the new episodes of Star Trek: Discovery anymore. ViacomCBS, in an attempt to bolster their international rollout of Paramount+, have started pulling their content from services that cater to domestic and international fans.
There has been some blowback across the board but the biggest has been against ViacomCBS for their handling of Star Trek: Discovery. The fourth season of the series is currently airing domestically but as of right now has no international release date, with a press release just saying sometime in early 2022. It was supposed to roll out internationally on Netflix as it had the past three seasons, but that was changed for the fourth season.
This hasn’t gone over well, with many rightly pointing out that they’re forced to significantly change their daily habits just to enjoy a piece of entertainment. The amount of effort one has to go through to avoid spoilers is exhausting in today’s day and age.
The usual thing that ends up happening is that fans just stop caring at that point, which isn’t good for a series like Discovery that may be in its last season. Discovery, unlike Picard and Lower Decks, didn’t film back-to-back seasons. A fifth season was expected but Discovery ended up not filming it and actually reduced the number of episodes for season four.
Fans are pointing out that the Star Trek: Discovery debacle is exactly that
Fans in the States may not realize how hard it is to enjoy international series. Fans on the Redshirts Always Die Facebook page made sure to express their frustration. One user from Poland described the situation as a scandal, while another user who relied on Netflix internationally to watch the product said that this is the time he stops watching. Another user went a step further and suggested boycotting ViacomCBS for their decision.
Others across other social media services have pointed out that they’ll have to purchase yet another streaming service in order to keep up with their favorite shows. Highlighting once again that the streaming bubble is about to burst.
Fans are pirating more shows than ever before due to the amount of money it costs to keep up with everything. Not long ago $60 got you 80-odd channels and fresh content daily. Now you’re paying $10 a service, at minimum in most cases, to get one or two shows you actually want.
ViacomCBS has already failed once with CBS All Access and it doesn’t sound like Paramount+ is going to win back those that fell off with that service.