Regular listeners to the Pilot TV Pod will know that Monday's show included discussion about the mysterious vanishing of Star Trek: Discovery from Netflix's schedule in the UK. Abandon any conspiracy theorizing, because the answer is a much more mundane business decision, albeit one unlikely to win fans and influence people.
Deadline breaks the word that corporate behemoth ViacomCBS has worked out a deal to bring Discovery back under the Paramount brand. When it originally launched, the show ran in the states on CBS All Access, but a significant chunk of its budget was kicked in under deal with Netflix that gave the much bigger streaming service the international rights.
CBS All Access has since been replaced by Paramount+, and CBS is looking to launch that service internationally next year – so what better way than by bringing one of its biggest properties back into the fold around the world?
The timing, honestly, couldn't be worse – Season 4 of Discovery had been set to launch this week, and many will be unhappy at the prospect of paying for yet another service to see the show. Star Trek Picard and Star Trek: Lower Decks , which are shown internationally on Prime Video, may well follow suit, but there's no news on any changes for either series just yet.