‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Season 2 Confirmed For August Debut On Amazon Prime Video Internationally

Good news for international fans who stream Star Trek: Lower Decks on Amazon Prime Video.

Lower Decks on Amazon Prime on August 13

Today Amazon confirmed they will begin streaming the second season of Star Trek: Lower Decks on Friday, August 13th in the U.K., Europe, Australia, New Zealand,  Japan, India, and the other territories where they also stream season one of the series. This is just one day after the series premieres in the USA on Paramount+ and in Canada on CTV Sci-Fi. Like in the US and Canada, episodes will arrive weekly, with the finale of the 10-episode season arriving on Amazon on Friday, October 15.

In case you missed it, here is the new trailer released at last week’s Comic-Con@Home.

[NOTE: Instagram videos are not region-locked, and it can also be seen at startrek.com]

This is welcome news for international fans who had to wait until January of this year for the first season to begin streaming on the service. In Latin America, Lower Decks will debut in September on Paramount Plus.

There is still no word yet on where Star Trek: Prodigy will be available outside North America. The upcoming animated kids series debuts in the fall on Paramount+ in the USA and CTV Sci-Fi in Canada. We are also waiting on news about where Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – the live-action series set on Captain Pike’s USS Enterprise – will be available outside the Americas. That series is expected to debut in 2022 on Paramount+ in the USA and Latin America, and on CTV Sci-Fi in Canada.


Keep up with all the news and analysis from Star Trek: Lower Decks.

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YESSSSS! THANK YOU CBS!

Could have been announced earlier, but at least it’s happening. Very good. At least we can watch this episode while the U.S. don’t let us travel to Las Vegas for that convention.

LOWER DECKS! LOWER DECKS! LOWER DECKS!

Fantastic news!!!! Thank you Amazon!! I am really looking forward to it!!! Let’s hope that Prodigy and Strange New Worlds will also stream immediatly internationally. I hope for an announcement soon!

Right. Good news, I guess. While I’m not a fan of that particular Trek show, I’m going to watch it anway. I don’t think this will be a mind changer but you never know…

Yes!

if I remember correctly the agreement between CBS and Netflix was for the streaming of Discovery and any spin offs. so SNW should be on Netflix internationally.

I don’t think you have it right.

SNW will be on Paramount+ with usual the exception of BellMedia in Canada. This is already announced.

More, ViacomCBS isn’t giving any new or renewed exclusive licenses to other streamers. They want Paramount+ to have the right to stream anything they produce.

Discovery had a 3 season exclusive license with Netflix outside North America, but it’s not clear whether Netflix will have future seasons on a non-exclusive bas.

Netflix had a first-refusal deal for Discovery spin-offs. My bet is that they lost interest when CBS used the “Picard is not a Discovery spin-off, it is a TNG spin-off” story to sell out the series to Amazon, and then refused SNW, which is clearly a Discovery spin-off (to the point Disco’s budget paid for the Enterprise bridge and featured the big three of SNW’s main cast). Now SNW will come to Latin America with Paramount+, but I suspect they are still trying to sell the rights to another streamer for major international markets…

Did CBS Used the “Picard is Not a discovery spin-off” Trick? How could you know that?

Because they said so! I’m looking for a specific quote, and having a hard time finding it, but they treaded this very carefully. I remember they using expressions as “our understanding is…”. If I find it, I’ll bring it here.

Still looking for the exact quote, but here are some samples that you can read between the lines:

While CBS can’t be drawn on the terms surrounding the Netflix deal, David Stapf, president of CBS Television Studios, tells TBI that the platform has “quite a few years” left on the contract. As for whether it will re-up when the deal comes to a close, it’s a decision that “will be made then by both parties”.
Deborah Barak, president of business operations for CBS Entertainment, CBS Television Studios and CBS News, adds:
“There’s obviously been a lot of interest in the shows [All Access] has been doing, and we need to figure out the right deal for each show.
“Plus, All Access obviously has some presence in the international marketplace as well, so there are some questions.”

https://tbivision.com/2019/04/23/live-long-and-prosper-inside-all-access/

FOUND IT!

DEADLINE: Are the Star Trek extensions contractually obligated to go to Netflix internationally per the deal on Discovery?
STAPF: It’s complicated. Some are, some aren’t, depending on how it gets defined as series or a spinoff.
DEADLINE: So, the one announced yesterday with Sir Patrick, that’s a standalone series right?
STAPF: Yes, that’s a new series. Which I think is important to distinguish.
DEADLINEAre you looking for similar international distribution deals for the new Star Trek to the one you have for Discovery with Netflix or are you looking to retain some international rights as CBS All Access is expanding its footprint to Canada and Australia?
STAPF: We’re looking at all of it and have the ability to do that.

https://deadline.com/2018/08/patrick-stewart-star-trek-franchise-expansion-plans-cbs-all-access-executives-interview-tca-1202440492/

Wow this IS interesting. Thank you so much. It does sound like CBS found a loophole to get out of its deal of future Trek shows with Netflix. They don’t seem all that bothered about it though, so I guess no big loss to them.

Amazon probably offered them more money for Picard than Netflix did. So they found a loophole not to give it to Netflix.
My guess is that Strange New Worlds would indeed count as a spinoff of Discovery since the main Strange New Worlds characters debuted on Discovery. (But you never know. Studios are certainly known to get very creative when it comes to contracts and their interpretation.)
I just hope that both Prodigy and Strange New Worlds will be released in my home country at the same time as their US release, and preferably on a streaming service that I already have. Paramount Plus isn’t available here yet.

Yeah you’re probably right. But sadly it doesn’t seem like Netflix is all that bothered since so far out of all the shows distributed they ONLY have Discovery on their platform five shows later.

You know my handle and posts well enough to know I do don’t the Youtuve conspiracy BS that Netflix is ready to drop Discovery any year now because no one is watching it or they are going to stop paying for it. But I do think there could be SOME truth that the show didn’t reach their expectations either and why they haven’t been out in force to pick up any of these other shows after it. I mean look at Short Treks. It seem like they felt forced to even air it and they STILL haven’t picked up season 2 yet. That’s really really telling to me. And that could be a big part of the reason that isn’t getting another season because they can’t seem to get anyone to pay for it overseas.

I honestly thought every new show will just go to Netflix like they would all be on AA/P+, but the complete opposite is happening. No one seems to be in a rush to get these shows after Picard. I mean Prodigy still doesn’t have a distributor yet as you mentioned and that basically starts in about 3 months all said and done. I don’t doubt they’ll get one but hopefully it won’t be like the LDS situation. And from what I read about that, that was distributed overseas late because the original plan was to have the show start after Discovery and not before. But the same shouldn’t happen with Prodigy or SNW since schedules are much more streamlined now.

But again, it’s telling. Clearly Star Trek is a big hit on Paramount+ because they keep making them. But I have a feeling on Netflix and Amazon, these shows are just marginally successful because they are on platforms that already have tons of bigger hits on their own and we know Star Trek has never been that big outside of America (and probably why he Kelvin films are most likely dead since none of those performed big abroad).

Hopefully PRO will land on Amazon outside the U.S. or even Netflix but I’m not holding my breath they will ever get another Trek show based on the record so far.

Netflix lost interest with Star Trek the moment they saw they were just paying up in favor of future competitors.

I have some insight into Netflix’s earlier plans for Trek, as I worked as a consultant for them regarding the franchise back when Discovery started. They came to the point of creating promos with the motto “Netflix: The Home of Star Trek”. (CBS nixed those.)

When CBS circunvented the contract to offer Picard to Amazon, Netflix was obviously pissed off. It ruined their strategy to have Star Trek as a high selling point for international markets. (And, by splitting the franchise between services, CBSAA, now Paramount+, could have an upper hand later on being the only one to have all of It in one place.)

From that point on, Netflix stopped promoting Discovery. They are still footing the bill, because they had a multi-year contract, but they stopped caring. The series certainly plays well. Even without much international promotion, it figured in Netflix’s Top 10 in most episodes of Season 3 in major Trek markets, such as UK and Germany. So the problem is not with subscribers’ interest in the series. It is with the long-term game playing against competing streaming services.

Netflix had a similar reaction to its Marvel series when Disney+ came along and presented plans for top tier Marvel shows. Netflix cancelled all their Marvel shows (Defenders, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Ironfist), all of them successful, and some of them with seasons yet to air, only to avoid paying up for future Disney+ content. Same probably applies with Trek. And plays into Netflix’s biggest problem: It doesn’t OWN any major established franchise. They are trying to create some out of thin air, with things like the Millarworld and The Witcher, but so far had only mild results… Netflix lacks a Star Wars, a Marvel, a DC, a Harry Potter, a Star Trek. And at this point it is clear that (1) those are very important properties in the streaming wars, and (2) nobody will simply “sell” one for Netflix to exploit.

So that’s the scene as I see it. I predict Netflix will give up on Trek at the earliest opportunity, and eventually all of it will be on Paramount+ worldwide, but it will take some time, and CBS will try to split the bill with the likes of Amazon for as long as possible before reunifying the franchise under its own banner overseas.

Wow, as Spock might say, fascinating!

This really opens the veil over Netflix and the whole Star Trek deal with CBS. There is clearly bitterness there between the two.

It proves I was wrong it’s not directly about Discovery’s lack of performance on the site (which is good) but it does confirm what I thought all along and that Netflix had intended to pick up all the new Star Trek shows and basically make AA/P+ the go to place for all Trek shows in America and Netflix for basically every place else minus a few markets. But sadly that didn’t quite happen because $$$$$ and we see how badly the international distribution is becoming. Now it sounds like Netflix has wiped its hands trying to get more of these shows and that they can literally end up anywhere, if at all.

I remember waaaaaaay back in 2017 when there was so much whining about having to sign up for All Access in America to get Discovery while the rest of the world had it so good having the show on a service many already had. Well it doesn’t seem all that great now for non-Americans since they don’t know when or where the next show will pop up while we get all the shows on one site. In the end it worked out better for Americans even if they still think P+ sucks as a service.

Your last point about Netflix says a lot too. Just a few years ago they didn’t really need their own brands because they were licensing everyone else’s. But now that has changed since so many studios have simply made their own. I remember saying back in 2016 that CBS going their own way was just the beginning and soon many were going to start making their own and third party sites like Netflix will start struggling when they no longer have all those big brands on their site to rely on.

They aren’t struggling or anything. AFAIK they are still the number one streaming service in both America and abroad but I do wonder how much longer that will last as big boy sites like Disney+ and HBO Max with a lot of big brands start to really expand both content and distribution in the next few years.

Yeah, exactly right. Netflix had a huge headstart, but there are some huge gray clouds up in the horizon. They are in good shape, but they need to strike gold fast. Emmys are not enough; they need properties that people care enough about to stay subscribed no matter what.

What about South America and Brazil…??? Why can’t we be able to watch it in Amazon Prime??

I think they releasing it on Paramount+ in south America since they expanded their service over there.

I’m willing to bet this means a premiere date for Discovery S4 of the 22nd October or not long after too. Based on how they did it last year.

Actually I think it will be later than that since they already came out and said Prodigy will premiere in the fall. And since we know they don’t plan to overlap any of the shows, it sounds like it will be October when that show airs and then Discovery after that.

Bets right now are that it will release aroudn the last days of December.

Season 3 was filmed from July 2019 to February 2020 and premiered in October 2020.
Season 4 only started filming in November 2020 and hasn’t finished filming, yet. So it seems unlikely it will be ready in October.