Oversaturated streaming market set to push Star Trek fans to piracy

An official Star Trek Twitter account has stated that season four of Star Trek: Discovery, which was due to arrive on Netflix on Friday for international audiences, has now been pushed back to early 2022 due to Netflix losing global rights to the show to Paramount. To be clear, those in the United States and Canada will be able to start watching the show on Thursday but international audiences will have to wait if they plan to watch the show legally.

Over the last decade, many people have switched to streaming services like Netflix because they’re not overly expensive and are more convenient than pirating content. Unfortunately, the last few years have seen a staggering amount of streaming services come on the market including Disney+, Paramount+, BritBox, and several others.

With the launch of the new services, it saw different shows leave Netflix for the new services to try and attract customers but this has meant users have had to take out multiple subscriptions which can be expensive. For those who can’t afford all these services, it has meant piracy is being seen as an option by more and more people.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see the piracy statistics that come out following the launch of Star Trek: Discovery season four once it has aired in the United States and Canada. Many people responding to Paramount’s decision on Twitter said they will turn to piracy to view the show rather than wait until next year. If there is a spike in piracy, perhaps the companies behind these streaming services should take note and reconsider whether fragmentation is the best approach.