Is CBS’s ‘Star Trek’ Delay a Vote of Non-Confidence For the New Series?

During a speech at the Deutsche Bank Media Internet & Telecom Conference this morning, CBS big whig Les Moonves explained that CBS’ new Star Trek series will have to wait a full six-months after the release of this July’s Star Trek Beyond. Said Moonves:

“When [CBS] split from Viacom ten years ago, January 1, 2006, one of the big sticking points, as you can imagine, was Star Trek. You know, we both wanted it … Our deal with them is that we had to wait six months after their film is launched so there wouldn’t be a confusion in the marketplace.”

Let’s not even talk about the scheduling headaches that may arise if Paramount exercises their option to gather the film cast for a fourth entry in the series. Instead, let’s focus on the content of Moonves’ statements.

To a cynic, “Confusion in the marketplace,” sounds like Paramount parent company Viacom didn’t want their film series’ popularity diluted by a potentially shitty TV reboot. And believe me, the jury is most definitely still out on the new streaming addition to the franchise. While most fans applauded the choice of Hannibal’s Bryan Fuller, I had my doubts. And I’m not the only one.

At the moment, Moonves is touting Fuller’s series as the flagship title for CBS’ All Access streaming service, calling the series a “no-brainer” as a property that will instantly attract channel subscribers. He claims that the series’ announcement alone racked up 60 percent of the funds to produce the thing, thanks to strong international attention.

But CBS has yet to really put their marketing money where Moonves’ mouth is. There’s been no real push to boost streaming subscriptions for All Access, a fact the CEO himself admitted: “The truth of the matter is, we haven’t pulled out all the stops.” Moonves was also cagey about a potential marketing push closer to the Star Trek’s release, explaining that the odds were good, but she stayed noncommittal.