CBS Corp. will launch a new original “Star Trek” television show on its paid subscription service CBS All Access in Jan. 2017.
The show will only be available on CBS All Access, though the first episode will be previewed on the CBS Television Network.
This will be the six iteration of the “Star Trek” TV show since it debuted in 1966. The last incarnation of the franchise, “Star Trek: Enterprise,” ran from 2001 to 2005. The storyline of the new television series is not related to the film “Star Trek Beyond,” which is set for a theatrical release next year.
The new series will be produced by CBS Television Studios, which has production facilities in Mid-City and Studio City, in association with Alex Kurtzman’s production company Secret Hideout, which is headquartered in Universal City. Kurtzman co-wrote and produced recent franchise films “Star Trek” and “Star Trek Into Darkness.”
“We’ve experienced terrific growth for CBS All Access, expanding the service across affiliates and devices in a very short time,” said Marc DeBevoise, executive vice president of CBS Interactive, in a statement. “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.”
The online library of CBS All Access, which launched last year, contains more than 7,500 episodes of current CBS shows, such as “The Big Bang Theory” and “NCIS,” as well as older shows such as “I Love Lucy” and “The Twilight Zone.”
All previous “Star Trek” series are also available to watch on the platform, as are live local CBS television broadcasts. A monthly subscription costs $5.99.
The platform is available on CBS.com, the network’s iOS and Android apps, and Windows 10. It’s also carried on devices such as Apple TV, Android TV, Chromecast, Roku players and Roku TV.
CBS All Access is competing against streaming television platforms such as Netflix, HBO Go, Amazon Prime and Hulu, all of which have much larger audiences. Those platforms have been competing not only to increase the size of their libraries, but also to offer unique content, incentivizing subscribers to pay for one platform over another.
As CBS All Access enters the competitive online television market, it appears to be deploying the same original content strategy and banking on the enduring appeal of “Star Trek” to its rabid fan base.
