After backlash, Star Trek: Discovery now available around the world

The fourth season of Star Trek: Discovery is underway, and is sounds like it’s off to a good start. But the show itself has been overshadowed by a distribution scandal: you see, new episodes of Discovery drop on Paramount+…at least in the U.S. In many other countries, new episodes of Discovery were dropping on Netflix. But then, literal days before the season 4 premiere, parent company ViacomCBS announced that it was pulling Discovery from Netflix in international markets. Because Paramount+ isn’t yet available in many parts of the world, that meant Star Trek fans simply had no legal way to watch the new episodes. At best, they would have to wait until Paramount+ rolled out in their areas in 2022.

To put it simply, this sucks. It’s a complete dick move on the part of ViacomCBS, and fans were united in calling them out on it. Even the actors were expressing their frustration. The blowback got so bad that Paramount found a workaround, according to Gizmodo. The episodes still aren’t coming to Netflix, but in many countries that don’t yet have Paramount+ — including Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and the UK — episodes will be released on the free streaming platform Pluto TV, which is also owned by ViacomCBS. In several other markets — including Russia and South Korea — fans are also now able to purchase individual episodes on select digital platforms.

So the solution isn’t perfect — international fans still have to get a new streaming service or pony up money to buy episodes — but at least it’s something.

ViacomCBS to Star Trek fans: “We hear you”

ViacomCBS also released a statement talking about the new plan. “To all of the international Star Trek: Discovery fans: we hear you. We love this series too,” it reads. “We love it for the incredible cast, the hardworking crew, the imaginative storytelling, the groundbreaking, diverse characters who bring the show to life and what it represents to so many people around the world. Star Trek has always put its fans first. We want to do the same.”

"We too are super fans of Star Trek and incredibly proud of Discovery. We promise to give this franchise and its loyal fans all the global love and visibility it deserves in our expanding universe on Paramount+."

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery drop on Thursdays…at least on Paramount+.

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