Originally Posted by : The Next Chapter of the Legendary “Star Trek” TV Franchise Will Premiere on the CBS Television Network, Then Move to CBS All Access Digital Subscription Service
Alex Kurtzman, Co-Writer and Producer of the Blockbuster Films
“Star Trek” and “Star Trek Into Darkness,” to Executive Produce
CBS Studios International to Distribute the Series Globally
For Television and Multiple Platforms
STUDIO CITY, CALIF. AND NEW YORK, N.Y. – Nov. 2, 2015 – CBS Television Studios announced today it will launch a totally new “Star Trek” television series in January 2017. The new series will blast off with a special preview broadcast on the CBS Television Network. The premiere episode and all subsequent first-run episodes will then be available exclusively in the United States on CBS All Access, the Network’s digital subscription video on demand and live streaming service.
The next chapter of the “Star Trek” franchise will also be distributed concurrently for television and multiple platforms around the world by CBS Studios International.
The new program will be the first original series developed specifically for U.S. audiences for CBS All Access, a cross-platform streaming service that brings viewers thousands of episodes from CBS’s current and past seasons on demand, plus the ability to stream their local CBS Television station live for $5.99 per month. CBS All Access already offers every episode of all previous “Star Trek” television series.
The brand-new “Star Trek” will introduce new characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations, while exploring the dramatic contemporary themes that have been a signature of the franchise since its inception in 1966.
Alex Kurtzman will serve as executive producer for the new “Star Trek” TV series. Kurtzman co-wrote and produced the blockbuster films “Star Trek” (2009) with Roberto Orci, and “Star Trek Into Darkness” (2013) with Orci and Damon Lindelof. Both films were produced and directed by J.J. Abrams.
The new series will be produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout. Kurtzman and Heather Kadin will serve as executive producers. Kurtzman is also an executive producer for the hit CBS television series SCORPION and LIMITLESS, along with Kadin and Orci, and for HAWAII FIVE-0 with Orci.
“Star Trek,” which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2016, is one of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time. The original “Star Trek” spawned a dozen feature films and five successful television series. Almost half a century later, the “Star Trek” television series are licensed on a variety of different platforms in more than 190 countries, and the franchise still generates more than a billion social media impressions every month.
Born from the mind of Gene Roddenberry, the original “Star Trek” series debuted on Sept. 8, 1966 and aired for three seasons – a short run that belied the influence it would have for generations. The series also broke new ground in storytelling and cultural mores, providing a progressive look at topics including race relations, global politics and the environment.
“There is no better time to give ‘Star Trek’ fans a new series than on the heels of the original show’s 50th anniversary celebration,” said David Stapf, President, CBS Television Studios. “Everyone here has great respect for this storied franchise, and we’re excited to launch its next television chapter in the creative mind and skilled hands of Alex Kurtzman, someone who knows this world and its audience intimately.”
“This new series will premiere to the national CBS audience, then boldly go where no first-run ‘Star Trek’ series has gone before – directly to its millions of fans through CBS All Access,” said Marc DeBevoise, Executive Vice President/General Manager – CBS Digital Media. “We’ve experienced terrific growth for CBS All Access, expanding the service across affiliates and devices in a very short time. We now have an incredible opportunity to accelerate this growth with the iconic ‘Star Trek,’ and its devoted and passionate fan base, as our first original series.”
“Every day, an episode of the ‘Star Trek’ franchise is seen in almost every country in the world,” said Armando Nuñez, President and CEO, CBS Global Distribution Group. “We can’t wait to introduce ‘Star Trek’s’ next voyage on television to its vast global fan base.”
CBS All Access offers its customers more than 7,500 episodes from the current television season, previous seasons and classic shows on demand nationwide, as well as the ability to stream local CBS stations live in more than 110 markets. Subscribers can use the service online and across devices via CBS.com, the CBS App for iOS, Android and Windows 10, as well as on connected devices such as Apple TV, Android TV, Chromecast, Roku players and Roku TV, with more connected devices to come.
The new television series is not related to the upcoming feature film “Star Trek Beyond,” which is scheduled to be distributed by Paramount Pictures in summer 2016
Originally Posted by Deberg_1990:
I agree Dane. CBS is going to have to add alot more exclusive/original programming than just Star Trek
At the end of ST:NG, it cost Paramount $4 million per episode, making it so they were unable to turn much of a profit. That was 1994 and everything, from casting to VFX to directors are far more expensive in 2016 for a program like Star Trek.
I just don't understand how they think they'll be able to recoup $78 million (13 episodes times $6 million per, which is on the low side) from an internet subscription channel.
While Netflix has 36 million subscribers, CBS would need 13 million subscribers to break even. That doesn't seem likely, considering 95% of all of their content can be viewed OTA.
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
I just don't get how CBS thinks that people will pay $5.99 a month for a service that is free for ABC, Fox and NBC.
It's completely senseless.
Being a Trek junkie, I will likely pay for one month, just enough to binge watch the series, and then cancel. My guess is that my tactic will mirror 90% of the subscribers they gain specifically sure to this new series. I do the same thing with Showtime for Homeland. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Vegas_Dave:
Being a Trek junkie, I will likely pay for one month, just enough to binge watch the series, and then cancel. My guess is that my tactic will mirror 90% of the subscribers they gain specifically sure to this new series. I do the same thing with Showtime for Homeland.
For this reason alone, I wonder if CBS will make every episode available immediately.
I'll venture to guess that they will treat it like a network series to increase revenues.
If the series is a gigantic hit, I'll bet they air it on CBS during summer months, too. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Bowser:
With so many reasons to be excited about CBS All Access’ upcoming trip to the Star Trek universe, it’s hard to believe that there can possibly be new announcements that amp up our interest even higher. And yet now it’s happening. While nothing is confirmed by anyone involved behind the scenes just yet, it appears as if the show’s first season will take place between the film Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country and the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation. And that’s far from the only awesome factoid.
Fans always wonder about what goes on between major timelines within popular franchises, and few have as many established points of reference as Star Trek. The new show’s narrative would allow for showrunner Bryan Fuller and his killer crew to develop a new branch of the mythos with a new crew, while also firmly fitting into established territory, which is a good fit for both them and us.
And if BirthMoviesDeath is to be believed, we might not even need to get too used to those new characters from one season to the next, as the series is allegedly being considered as an anthology. So while this first season will take place in this particular window of time, the second season could be set in the years before Spock and Kirk ever met, or in the time of recovery following Deep Space Nine’s war years. It’s a concept that has worked for shows like American Horror Story and American Crime, so adapting it for a preexisting fictional universe has some crazy intriguing potential going for it, and Star Trek’s near infinite avenues to storytelling could make this series as important and enjoyable as any others that came before it.
There’s also another rumor floating that Bryan Fuller has figured out a way to give this new Star Trek series a set of villainous Klingons for the protagonists to have problems with. Sure, most of the Klingons are peacefully dealing with humanity, but there are always bushy-eyebrowed exceptions to be found. And if this ends up happening, we can probably expect several other callbacks to the universe in fun ways like this.
This potential timeline placement obviously means the new show will have nothing to do with the current franchise spearheaded by J.J. Abrams, and it will do more to honor Star Trek’s TV roots. And that’s perfectly fine with us. Considering we won’t get this show for a while, we’ll have some time to considering all the options. What do you guys think about these new details, assuming they’re true?
My guess is that the premiere will do a big number when they air it on CBS (which they've already said they're going to do) and they'll quickly work out some deal to air the whole season. Probably something like the episodes will premiere on the app then air on TV a couple weeks later.
Also I don't hate the idea of an anthology format, if for no other reason than it keeps alive my dream of the TNG cast getting a non-shitty send-off. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Jamie:
My guess is that the premiere will do a big number when they air it on CBS (which they've already said they're going to do) and they'll quickly work out some deal to air the whole season. Probably something like the episodes will premiere on the app then air on TV a couple weeks later.
Also I don't hate the idea of an anthology format, if for no other reason than it keeps alive my dream of the TNG cast getting a non-shitty send-off.
I will be shocked if a brand new Star Trek pilot draws big numbers on CBS and there would be no incentive for anyone $5.99 per month to watch an episode two weeks early, which would defeat the purpose of the app.
FWIW, CBS All Access has less than 100,000 subscribers while Netflix has more than 30 million. [Reply]
At this point I've seen so many reboots I'm just not really interested anymore. An anthology format is just an annual reboot. No thanks.
I might be swayed to come back if they did a story from the Klingon's point of view during the war. Or maybe the Romulans. At this point, the Federation is just so much watered down trash that there is just no excitement there anymore. Abrams destroyed it for me, and after the last trailer I don't expect Pegg can save the next one.
I was intrigued by Axanar, but Paramount pretty much killed that. [Reply]
Originally Posted by unlurking:
At this point I've seen so many reboots I'm just not really interested anymore. An anthology format is just an annual reboot. No thanks.
I might be swayed to come back if they did a story from the Klingon's point of view during the war. Or maybe the Romulans. At this point, the Federation is just so much watered down trash that there is just no excitement there anymore. Abrams destroyed it for me, and after the last trailer I don't expect Pegg can save the next one.
I was intrigued by Axanar, but Paramount pretty much killed that.
I enjoyed the Star Trek reboot (that first one he did) as much as I enjoyed the Star Wars "reboot" (copy of the first one ever made) because both of the movies had a sort of a feel for the franchises to me. They were nice popcorn munching movies and I was entertained, but that's been done now. At this point in both cases they would have to offer the same thing for me to be interested: Great stories told by great actors with great dialogue. The franchises themselves don't offer enough for me to pay attention to either a movie or a TV show. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
I will be shocked if a brand new Star Trek pilot draws big numbers on CBS and there would be no incentive for anyone $5.99 per month to watch an episode two weeks early, which would defeat the purpose of the app.
FWIW, CBS All Access has less than 100,000 subscribers while Netflix has more than 30 million.
As of right now I am uninterested. I'd rather watch old episodes of the original or TNG on Netflix. [Reply]
And this is coming from an old die hard Star Trek fan. I had seen every episode of the original show at least ten times by the time I was fifteen years old. I used to play a game just to annoy my sister where I would name the episode and give a competent spoken synopsis within the first ten to twenty seconds of the show. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
At the end of ST:NG, it cost Paramount $4 million per episode, making it so they were unable to turn much of a profit. That was 1994 and everything, from casting to VFX to directors are far more expensive in 2016 for a program like Star Trek.
I would actually be interested to know how much they spent on visual effects back then, and whether or not they could do more for less nowadays. Look at all the shows on TV now, from "GoT" to "Shannara" to "Flash". I would think 20+ years ago it cost much more money to do CGI and starfields and such. And how much of it at the end was for the salaries, as well; no one was a household name at first but by the end of the series they were all popular, especially Stewart.
(Don't get me wrong, I still think it would bomb, because I just don't see the interest for it. Whatever's left to be wrung out of Star Trek storylines is going to happen in the films anyway.) [Reply]
Originally Posted by JD10367:
I would actually be interested to know how much they spent on visual effects back then, and whether or not they could do more for less nowadays. Look at all the shows on TV now, from "GoT" to "Shannara" to "Flash". I would think 20+ years ago it cost much more money to do CGI and starfields and such. And how much of it at the end was for the salaries, as well; no one was a household name at first but by the end of the series they were all popular, especially Stewart.
(Don't get me wrong, I still think it would bomb, because I just don't see the interest for it. Whatever's left to be wrung out of Star Trek storylines is going to happen in the films anyway.)
VFX are still very expensive, which is why LucasFilm hasn't produced a live action Star Wars series.
GOT does some green screening but they mostly film on location. 13 episodes costs HBO nearly $80 million this past season but they have a gigantic subscriber base in order to justify those costs.
As I mentioned earlier, Netflix has more than 30 million subscribers and CBS All Access has less than 100k, so I can't see how this series will be a "winner" for CBS, unless they hire complete unknowns and build cheesy sets, like those in the '60's. [Reply]
According to a conference call held with reporters by CBS’s president, Les Moonves, the new Star Trek series will debut in January 2017, with one episode released per week. It’s not much different from how CBS airs its programs now, except that “All Access” will cost an extra $6 a month. T
he news that Star Trek was returning to TV excited devoted fans of the franchise, but online chatter mostly focused on how quickly they’d be able to watch the season before unsubscribing from the service. The fan site TrekCore acknowledges, sadly, that such a “binge and bail” tactic won’t be possible—which is exactly what CBS wants. As cable cord-cutting grows more common among younger viewers, networks need to find a new way into their pockets, which is why the weekly cliffhanger may not be going anywhere anytime soon. [Reply]
Originally Posted by notorious:
I can't believe that CBS has 100k subscribers.
What are they buying?
Why would anyone subscribe now? Do they have anything that's exclusive to the service that's worth $6/month? They have no shows that air on CBS that even come close to the Netflix originals. [Reply]