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Star Trek: Discovery fans furious as new season release postponed last-minute outside of North America

One fan described the last-minute change as ‘one of the most bizarre, ill-judged corporate decisions I can remember’

Louis Chilton
Wednesday 17 November 2021 16:55 GMT
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Star Trek Discovery season 4 trailer

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British fans of Star Trek: Discovery have voiced their dissatisfaction after the new season’s planned UK release date was pushed back at short notice.

The fourth season of the popular sci-fi series had been scheduled to debut outside North America on Netflix this Friday (19 November).

However, the global rights to the show are now owned by Paramount, which is debuting the series on its proprietary streaming service Paramount Plus in the US and Canada.

In the UK and other international territories, Paramount Plus is not available until 2022.

The official Star Trek account announced the news in a statement shared to social media.

However, Discovery fans did not all take the news well, with many expressing frustration at the lack of notice, and the fact that the show would be available for viewers in the US months earlier.

“What a daft business decision,” wrote one Twitter user. “Going from watch our show next week in 100h countries to..... Nah. No notice, a big f*** you to international audiences.”

“What a rotten thing to do to your European fans,” wrote another. “Way to hang your actors out to dry as well. Prepare for torrenting to peak.”

“What a kick in the teeth for #StarTrekDiscovery fans outside of North America,” wrote someone else. “Appreciate ultimately shows might move to #ParamountPlus but to pull the show from Netflix internationally just a few days before it was due to be shown is one of the most bizarre, ill-judged corporate decisions I can ever remember seeing in my life.”

“It promotes piracy, illegal downloading & ensures #StarTrekDiscovery will be ruined by spoilers for international fans.”

Paramount Plus is coming to 20 more countries, including the UK, early next year.

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