Paramount+ Sets Launch for UK and South Korea
Paramount+ is headed to the United Kingdom and South Korea. During Tuesday's investor call, Paramount CEO Bob Bakish announced that the company's streaming service would launch in both countries in June. Bakish set a specific June 22nd launch date for the U.K. and Ireland but provided no specific date for South Korea. In August 2021, Paramount Global partnered with Sky, Comcast's pay-TV and streaming provider in Europe, to add Paramount+ to their platforms across the U.K., Ireland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria in 2022. Paramount+ will be available to Sky Cinema subscribers in the U.K. at no extra cost.
This is excellent news for Star Trek fans in the United Kingdom and other international markets. They've been frustrated by Paramount ending deals with other streamers like Netflix and Amazon to carry Star Trek shows in international markets to prepare for Paramount+'s global rollout. While fans appreciated stopgap measures taken to make various Star Trek shows available on linear television and Pluto TV in those markets, it never felt it was the ideal solution.
The problem would grow with this week's debut of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount+. Until now, there have been no announced plans for the international rollout of the Star Trek: Discovery spinoff. Now fans in the United Kingdom know that they'll simply have to wait until June to watch the latest Star Trek series.
With international Star Trek streaming rights reverting to Paramount both internationally and at home, Paramount+ is quickly becoming the exclusive, one-stop destination for streaming Star Trek. Currently, Paramount+ is the home of five new, modern Star Trek show: Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, with more on the way. Its library also includes every episode of every classic Star Trek series: Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise. It also recently launched a linear streaming Star Trek channel and became home to all 13 Star Trek movies.
Paramount+ has a full slate of Star Trek content in 2022. It started with Star Trek: Discovery's fourth season earlier this year, which led straight into Star Trek: Picard's second season. Picard's second season finale streams this week alongside the premiere of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy will return with new episodes later in the year.
