With Monday’s announcement that a new “Star Trek” television show will premiere in January 2017, there has been a lot of discussion over why the decision was made for the show to be only made available for CBS All Access subscribers.
CBS President and CEO Les Moonves discussed the reasons behind the move, during his quarterly earnings call with analysts on Tuesday.
Moonves referred to the new Star Trek show as “the family jewels” of CBS All Access.
The series will “make all Star Trek fans very proud… We can see millions of them joining All Access.” The service already includes Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise.
According to Moonves, the Star Trek franchise has “done exceedingly well in streaming… Even the ones that were done 30 or 40 years ago still resonate today.” It’s “a huge international franchise, so our international distribution guy is going crazy.”
The series also is “a very important piece of business for us” as All Access establishes itself as a home for original programming. “Knowing the loyalty of the Star Trek fan base, this will boost it.”
The ad-supported service currently costs $5.99 a month and may see a new “commercial-free” option added prior to the new series’ debut. “How about $9.99 with no ads? It’s very possible,” Moonves said, noting that “it’s still very early.”
CBS All Access gives subscribers access to over 7,500 episodes on demand, new CBS shows the day after they air and live streaming TV. The catalog currently includes Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise. TrekNews.net readers are invited to try one week FREE.
Source: Deadline
thedefect
November 4, 2015 at 6:19 pm
I think this only works if the series adheres to the more science-fiction style of pre-reboot Trek. I don’t see droves of people signing up to watch just another action television show as the reboot Trek has. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy reboot Trek too, but it’s not the same, and the majority of existing Trek fans like the way it was before. If they’re counting on Trek fans to join up in millions, they can’t make it like the reboot.
Christopher Anderson
November 4, 2015 at 6:29 pm
Apparently the new Star Trek series is set in the Prime time line dosent mean it’s not set in the alternative time line. Just because JJ’s is part of the production team doesn’t mean it’s going to on Kirk’s alternative time line.
thedefect
November 4, 2015 at 6:33 pm
That’s my hope. I haven’t seen anything about that though. Where did you hear this? I would like to see something pick up after the Voyager era, maybe about 15-20 years. Would be fitting. Potential for cameos from VOY, DS9, and TNG characters without worrying much about aging.
Robert Allsbrook
December 7, 2015 at 10:22 am
Retrekboot. I just made that word up by combining the words: Reboot, and Star Trek.
Trekbootre also comes to my mind as a possibly viable interwebslang. Holy Phase OhLy! I just made up yet ANOTHER word: Interwebslang or possibly just InterSlang or WebSlang.
Copyright! Trekboot and Webslang are now and forever MY Words!
OH yeah. I almost forgot: UNLESS this new trekboot tv show contains and is founded in the new Star Trek TOS reality created by JJ Abrams and his crew of ‘intrepid’ BAD ROBOTS: It WILL fail.
The Enterprise D and the Enterprise E are part of canon indeed. It is now a proven fact that the 23rd century is The BEST era to tell Star Trek Tales in.
Old Trek is ‘dead’. Long Live JJ Abrams’ Trek!
Erin Saari
November 5, 2015 at 2:48 am
Oy! “Family jewels”? Really? I think he’s nuts!
Marsha
November 5, 2015 at 8:34 am
I’m excited! Make it so!
gskibum
November 5, 2015 at 8:54 am
An ad-supported service that costs $5.99 per month?
No thanks. That’s like paying an entrance fee just to get into the mall.
Roberto Ortiz
November 5, 2015 at 2:03 pm
how can anyone pay for a service with ads?! it should be free if it has ads! and what about fans worldwide?
Neurotic
November 5, 2015 at 3:00 pm
Keep it in the OG timeline somewhere, fuck all this Jar Jar Abrams nonsense. Please.
hayduke7
November 5, 2015 at 9:28 pm
Moonves is out of his Vulcan mind! No way we should have to pay extra to watch a TV series, with commercials, on a service that only has other reruns as its contents. What a short-sighted greedy suit. It should be on the regular network and commercial free on the all-access.
Mike Zarquon
November 7, 2015 at 4:27 pm
Those ‘Family Jewels’ seemed to lost its value when they cancelled Star Trek Enterprise ten years ago. I get the impression that CBS All Access is about making more profits from Trekkies around the world. Good marketing ploy with the release of new merchandise from the new series too.
Matt Kiefer
November 9, 2015 at 2:36 pm
I think it should be a time travel crew – with a captain from the future – that cannot be entirely trusted throughout the whole show – who claims his/her purpose is preserving ancient species – new show, new values! 🙂
MrGrumply
November 9, 2015 at 3:29 pm
Sounds more like a money-grab than for the fans. If they were serious, it be on TV as well – but they are hoping the All Access will explode with new sign-ups. I have Apple TV and got all excited that CBS was added to the line-up only to find out you had to pay for the All-Access to watch anything — old and new. Not really interested in that. What they SHOULD do is allow us to watch current seasons of shows for free and change access for previous. I dont know if I want to shell out $6/month for a TV show — granted I watch things on Netflix, like House of Cards and other things — but I get DVD’s from them as well. So I guess we’ll see how this pans out for them.