The newest addition to the 'Star Trek' franchise, 'Star Trek: Discovery' aired on CBS for the first (and only) time on Sunday, September 24. The network made sure to remind the viewers in every commercial break, that the next episode is already available and that the following episodes would be available weekly on CBS's streaming service, CBS All Access.

What is CBS All Access?

Cbs All Access is a streaming service that was launched almost exactly three years ago. It is similar to Hulu or Netflix, in that it is a monthly subscription, that gives you access to television on demand.

As this is exclusively CBS, the selection of original content is noticeably smaller, boasting only three different shows other than 'Star Trek: Discovery,' 'The Good Fight' (a spin-off of The Good Wife), 'Big Brother: Over the Top' (a spin-off of Big Brother), and 'After Trek,' a talk show following 'Discovery' in a similar vein to 'Talking Dead.' To add insult to injury, there isn't a single series being released on CBS All Access that isn't a spin-off or complementary to another series. Frankly, it is surprising that CBS insists that one should subscribe to its streaming service for almost no original content.

Do we have an alternative?

Conveniently for Canada, it will be the only country in which the show is regularly aired on television.

Canadian viewers will be able to watch on the Space Channel. For the rest of the world, the answer is a resounding "Not really, but..." since Netflix, something to which nearly 100 million of us have a subscription, will be receiving episodes a day later than CBS All Access. Unfortunately, this will only be in countries other than the United States and Canada.

This conveniently leaves America with the only option seemingly being to subscribe to CBS All Access for the duration of the series. Netflix's library does vary from country to country largely by copyright law. That being said, one could see how a subscriber would be less than satisfied when the service they use receives a show they want but doesn't allow them to watch it.

What to expect

With remarkably little original content, we are likely to see a dramatic amount of piracy and VPN usage to avoid paying for the shockingly small library. There is a history of Netflix users, even with the impressive library, using various techniques to access the libraries of other countries. It would not be excessive to think that a fan base, especially one as large as that of 'Star Trek,' would attempt to do so over one series.
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