ViacomCBS pulls Discovery from Netflix

askatus

I've just been reading that ViacomCBS has pulled Discovery from Netflix just days before season 4 launched. It will now only be available on Paramount+ which won't even be available in many countries including the UK until next year, and even then we'll have to subscribe to yet another streaming service to see it. I am irked. Not so much because of Discovery (although also because of that) but because I'm expecting the same thing to happen with Brave New Worlds and possibly other shows like Lower Decks or Prodigy. I've got quite enough streaming subscriptions as it is and I'm not too keen on taking out any more. Is there anything else even on P+ to make it worth the money?

legendarylycan

Well, besides the rest of Star Trek and all the stuff produced by companies under the CBS, Viacom and Paramount umbrella or by companies since acquired by said companies over the past several decades? No, not really.​​

Unknown

This content has been removed.

askatus

legendarylycan#5411 wrote: »

Well, besides the rest of Star Trek and all the stuff produced by companies under the CBS, Viacom and Paramount umbrella or by companies since acquired by said companies over the past several decades? No, not really.​​

I don't pay too much attention to who makes the shows. Is there anything in particular on there you would recommend?

foxman00

@rattler2 I think this thread belongs in Ten Forward.

protoneous

https://twitter.com/StarTrekOnPPlus/status/1460714359588483074?s=20

https://twitter.com/StarTrekOnPPlus/status/1460714366265823239?s=20

crypticarmsman

askatus wrote: »

I've just been reading that ViacomCBS has pulled Discovery from Netflix just days before season 4 launched. It will now only be available on Paramount+ which won't even be available in many countries including the UK until next year, and even then we'll have to subscribe to yet another streaming service to see it. I am irked. Not so much because of Discovery (although also because of that) but because I'm expecting the same thing to happen with Brave New Worlds and possibly other shows like Lower Decks or Prodigy. I've got quite enough streaming subscriptions as it is and I'm not too keen on taking out any more. Is there anything else even on P+ to make it worth the money?

And they paid quite a sum on money to Netflix to do so as they want to grow their own international arm for their streaming platform.

saurializard

I also love the timing: announcement 2 days before the release date.

I guess we're back to the 90s-2000s era where we have a lot of channels to pay for and international audiences still have to wait anyway. It's just on Internet now and you have to pay for each channel individually and either install something or have multiple accounts.

Progress...

husanakx

Count yourselves lucky. And in all seriousness... just wait, all this stuff will get dumped back on Netflix when Paramont+ fails. Well maybe it will... frankly I doubt Netflix is all that upset to see it go, and probably won't be offering a pot of gold to get it back. In general Netflix pays for content people actually watch, yes even the filler someone is watching. Discovery ? I tend to believe the ratings from when it played on Television... and was beaten soundly by reruns of The Masked Singer.

/discohate 0
All these production houses wanting their own streaming services is going to only end when enough of us decide we aren't going to allow it. If I have to draw the line somewhere... drawing it on not subbing to some service for discovery is acceptable to me. (oh man that was /discohate level 0.5 I tried)

legendarylycan

saurializard wrote: »

I also love the timing: announcement 2 days before the release date.

I guess we're back to the 90s-2000s era where we have a lot of channels to pay for and international audiences still have to wait anyway. It's just on Internet now and you have to pay for each channel individually and either install something or have multiple accounts.

Progress...

And you still have to wait half a year between a season ending and it being available on DvD/Blu-ray...you'd think with everything being digital now, that would take far less time.​​

evilmark444

askatus wrote: »

even then we'll have to subscribe to yet another streaming service

I've always known this would be how things went when people first started "cord cutting". People have always complained about the cost of cable TV, but the primary reason for the price is because of how much the networks charge to carry their channels. Networks still want their money, so it's only natural that they've all invested in creating their own separate streaming services.

I do think pulling Disco at the last minute was a horrible decision though, I doubt international fans are going to wait so they'll either be pirating it, or if CBS is lucky they'll instead choose to use a VPN and sign up for the American version of Paramount+ for now. They should have waited until they had the international version of the service up and running before buying out the Netflix contract.

paradox

Wait What?! It was going to be on Netflix... So Anyways I will contiue pirating Discovery content, while it's no big deal, Netflix would have made streaming Discovery easier.

phoenixc

corinthalas wrote: »

For added fun, many of the newer streaming services are quickly obsoleting older hardware for no particular reason beyond a lazy unwillingness to support them. I know this, because Netflix still runs absolutely fine on every device I've ever used it on. Which means every other streaming platform can too. They just choose not to. Sounds like consumer rights laws are in need of updating to reflect this failing.

They do that for the same reason that Microsoft is only allowing one interpretation of the TPM 2.0 standard (a lot of the machines people own will not be able to run Win11 due to having a different kind of TMP 2.0) and that is that it gives the companies the maximum amount of control over what you can and cannot do with your machine when you run their proprietary IP content. If it was just for system security and stopping malicious software then any version of it would do.

Their goal is to make it impossible to pirate anything by putting their software in charge, and even to sneakily deny the user any chance to actually exercise the legitimate fair use rights that media companies tried (and failed) to eliminate from a legal standpoint.

In the case of Paramount+, they seem to be convinced that they are being swindled out of a large revenue stream by people using VPNs (another thing that those companies want to outlaw or otherwise destroy) to watch the Netflix hosted episodes instead of paying for the CBS hosted domestic stream. That is in addition to their trying to expand into other markets (and I still think the "Netflix exploit" thing is BS, though they might actually be believing their own rhetoric).

darkbladejk

moved to Ten Forward

kayajay

This does smack of Beta, plasma TV's and Zip Drives...

legendarylycan

And also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc - amazing storage capability, will probably never see mass-market...not unless someone can market it the way Jobs did with the iPhone.​​

mustrumridcully0

That was a sucktastic decision. If you can't manage to release your damn service on the time you release a new series, maybe pick a different series as your gateway drug? I mean, there will be Picard next year, Star Trek New Voyagers, a new series of Lower Decks, and maybe you also have some other new shows that might be interesting to international viewers?

But that's probably some fiscal-quarter thing, if they don't get the subs in the first 3 months on release, then someone won't recieve their bonuses.

lordgyor

They are saying they are pulling it globally, but that isn't true, Bell still has the rights here in Canada, even though I believe Paramount+ is available here in Canada.

Last time I checked Canada is part of the Globe.

I believe it's because CBS values the alliance its forged with Bell far, far too much. Bell owns Pinewood Studios were Discovery shot. Plus Bell is stupidly powerful up here in Canada (it's a bigger company then CBS), you don't want to TRIBBLE Bell off, they own key bureaucrats and politicians here.

kayajay

mustrumridcully0 wrote: »

That was a sucktastic decision. If you can't manage to release your damn service on the time you release a new series, maybe pick a different series as your gateway drug? I mean, there will be Picard next year, Star Trek New Voyagers, a new series of Lower Decks, and maybe you also have some other new shows that might be interesting to international viewers?

But that's probably some fiscal-quarter thing, if they don't get the subs in the first 3 months on release, then someone won't recieve their bonuses.

The next episode of Prodigy is on the 6th of January as well. I think that's what I'm most looking forward to :-)

truewarper

lordgyor wrote: »

They are saying they are pulling it globally, but that isn't true, Bell still has the rights here in Canada, even though I believe Paramount+ is available here in Canada.

Last time I checked Canada is part of the Globe.

I believe it's because CBS values the alliance its forged with Bell far, far too much. Bell owns Pinewood Studios were Discovery shot. Plus Bell is stupidly powerful up here in Canada (it's a bigger company then CBS), you don't want to TRIBBLE Bell off, they own key bureaucrats and politicians here.

Hmmm, that is odd, I heard CBS spent money to build their own independent studio, still need the labor, but they wanted to their own. How did Bell get, wait---did they partner up on the cost?

When S-T-D was on Netflix...the US side ended their contract at the end of Season 2, the international venue carried on with Season 3.

vetteguy904

to b fair, P+ does have a lot of 80's favorites, NCIS, Jag, both hawai'i 50 shows both magnums both McGyvers, and a lot of movies

phoenixc

.

truewarper wrote: »

lordgyor wrote: »

They are saying they are pulling it globally, but that isn't true, Bell still has the rights here in Canada, even though I believe Paramount+ is available here in Canada.

Last time I checked Canada is part of the Globe.

I believe it's because CBS values the alliance its forged with Bell far, far too much. Bell owns Pinewood Studios were Discovery shot. Plus Bell is stupidly powerful up here in Canada (it's a bigger company then CBS), you don't want to TRIBBLE Bell off, they own key bureaucrats and politicians here.

Hmmm, that is odd, I heard CBS spent money to build their own independent studio, still need the labor, but they wanted to their own. How did Bell get, wait---did they partner up on the cost?

When S-T-D was on Netflix...the US side ended their contract at the end of Season 2, the international venue carried on with Season 3.

CBS has the old Desilu studios (which were called the RKO Pictures studios before that) which was bought out by Gulf+Western and renamed "Paramount TV" (as opposed to Paramount movie division which have their own studios called "Paramount Pictures"). CBS-Viacom also has several more in LA and one in New York, but none of them actually make DSC.

While CBS Television Studios is in technically in charge, that is only on paper. For production they subcontract it to Secret Hideout Productions entirely and they do not use any of the CBS-owned studios for that. Instead, they use Pinewood Toronto Studios.

truewarper

phoenixc#0738 wrote: »

.

truewarper wrote: »

lordgyor wrote: »

They are saying they are pulling it globally, but that isn't true, Bell still has the rights here in Canada, even though I believe Paramount+ is available here in Canada.

Last time I checked Canada is part of the Globe.

I believe it's because CBS values the alliance its forged with Bell far, far too much. Bell owns Pinewood Studios were Discovery shot. Plus Bell is stupidly powerful up here in Canada (it's a bigger company then CBS), you don't want to TRIBBLE Bell off, they own key bureaucrats and politicians here.

Hmmm, that is odd, I heard CBS spent money to build their own independent studio, still need the labor, but they wanted to their own. How did Bell get, wait---did they partner up on the cost?

When S-T-D was on Netflix...the US side ended their contract at the end of Season 2, the international venue carried on with Season 3.

CBS has the old Desilu studios (which were called the RKO Pictures studios before that) which was bought out by Gulf+Western and renamed "Paramount TV" (as opposed to Paramount movie division which have their own studios called "Paramount Pictures"). CBS-Viacom also has several more in LA and one in New York, but none of them actually make DSC.

While CBS Television Studios is in technically in charge, that is only on paper. For production they subcontract it to Secret Hideout Productions entirely and they do not use any of the CBS-owned studios for that. Instead, they use Pinewood Toronto Studios.

Sorry, I meant the studios in Canada, by the second season they were moving out the production to a new location. It was to cut down costs, despite the fact Kurtzman went on a spending spree and bought a lot of studio space for several years of use from 'Pinewood'. (Instead, he has sublet them now to other companies) CBS was not happy with that.