Paramount+'s price increase may be the final straw for Star Trek fans

We were sold a bill of lies. Remember when Netflix rose in popularity and everyone talked about how streaming would save us from commercials, while also killing cable? We all thought this would be great. Well, I didn't, but most people did. For a while, they were right to believe that.

There were only a few streaming services you needed, most were cheaper than a kid's meal at McDonald's per month, and you got endless amounts of entertainment from every major studio out there. Heck, Netflix was the one-stop-shop for all things. You had Star Trek and Disney right next to one another. Then came greed.

Everyone wanted their cut. They wanted their portion of the proverbial pie. Every studio who was bg enough to, or had backing from a major telecom company, launched their own service. Diluting the streaming experience in doing so. Soon enough there were more streaming services than there were options at the Cheesecake Factory and were nearly as expensive to boot.

Most streaming services had to go into substantial debt just to take a piece of the action from Netflix, who themselves were in massive amounts of debt as well. Now, the financial loaners want their money back and so streaming services are eating themselves alive.

Prices are going up, content is getting cut and unless you pay for the most expensive tier of each streaming service, advertisements are back in a big way. So now, not only are you paying for a service, you're paying for a service to watch exclusive commercials. Congratulations, cable is back but it's not anywhere as innovative or fun.

Paramount+ is one of the biggest culprits out there in ruining the streaming landscape. Star Trek soared on Netflix. Fans came back to the franchise for the first time in years because it was on the service. Fans, myself included, could re-watch the best that Star Trek had to offer, and in doing so, many realized just how good series like Voyager and Enterprise actually were.

So, when it became obvious that a new Star Trek series could work thanks to the success of the older shows, you'd think that Netflix would get to host the new series. Or at the very least it'd air on CBS proper, so that the most amount of people can watch. Instead, that didn't happen and it was locked behind a paywall on a cheap and poorly working streaming service; CBS All-Access.

That cheap service would become Paramount+ and after years of mishaps and poor decisions, the service has decided to once again raise its rates. The Paramount+ with Showtime will increase to $12.99 a month, while the ad-supported, non-Show-time version will come in at $7.99 a month.

With Star Trek hardly a feature on the service anymore, beyond two shows and a film, it's becoming clear that Star Trek fans should start paying for the service only when new content drops. The classic collection of Star Trek shows and films, specifically the films, come and go from the service all the time. While iconic shows like Voyager, Deep Space Nine, and others can be watched for free on Pluto TV or the Heros and Icon television station.

The reason for a Paramount+ subscription is gone for Star Trek fans, especially after they abandoned their plan for 52 weeks of new Star Trek content a year. If the service isn't putting out enough content to keep fans subscribed year-round, then why bother? Especially with the new price-hikes.