New Star Trek Series Beaming to CBS Digital

CBS announced the revival of Star Trek — the television series — in January 2017.

The first episode of the series will debut on CBS Network Television before moving over full-time to CBS’ digital platform CBS All Access, Viacom’s subscription streaming service. This is clearly an attempt by Viacom to bolster All Access, which costs $5.99 per month.

Hulu, which features content from ABC, CW, NBC Universal and Fox, stands as one of the more popular free and subscription streaming services. With Viacom not part of the Hulu consortium, they desperately need to become relevant to cord cutters.

If you’re a fan of Star Trek “The Original Series” and you were upset over the last two movies — Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013), the bad news is the writer of both films — Alex Kurtzman — will serve as executive producer of the show.

“The next group of problems the new series will have, is that it’s being produced by Alex Kurtzman who currently runs CBS travesty on TV “Scorpion” a show where running an Ethernet cable out of a jet aeroplane (sic) is considered good quality fiction. He’s also in charge of Hawaii 5-0, another TV car-crash and Limitless, currently airing on CBS based on the popular movie, but reworked to meet CBS’ requirement that all of its dramas are about law-enforcement or lawyers.” — Ian Morris, Forbes.com

The Star Trek re-boot claimed “alternate timeline” to overcome its plot shortcomings while Star Trek: Into Darkness re-told Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan. It’ll be interesting to see if Kurtzman can actually concoct something original or at least remotely connected to the Original Series canon.

“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 in a company release. “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 is a rather impressive move for Viacom. Star Trek boasts a large and loyal fan base, however, as unpopular as the last two movies were for long-established Star Trek fans, the brand must compete with a Disney-powered Star Wars triology set to launch its next chapters this winter.

Star Trek: Enterprise, was the last Star Trek series on the air and it beamed off the airwaves in 2005.

“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.”