CBS Is Right To Make Us Pay For 'Star Trek: Discovery'

[VOODOOXI]

We never got it for free. We got it at the cost of watching ads. Since that revenue source is dying, the alternative is to either pay for it - and at the same time much more directly show our support than was ever possible via Nielsen ratings - or not have a show at all.

Again, at the end of the business day CBS’S market cap was $23.5 BILLION Dollars. ..From 2009 to 2017 the companies stock has gone from $3.36 to it’s current value of $58.89 per share. That is an increase of 1,652%...The idea that this mega corporation can’t afford to produce new Star Trek episodes and put them on broadcast tv or better yet put them on Netflix (who is paying for a good part of it) is laughable.

If you believe that you wouldn’t have new ST because they couldn’t afford to put it on broadcast tv or that Nielsen ratings are so down that broadcast tv is obsolete, I have a beautiful bridge in Brooklyn I would love to sell you...I’m sorry for the sarcasm, but CBS is doing really, really well financially
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/cbs

The bottom line is they are attempting to add more revenue streams (I understand that they are a corporation and it is their goal to make as much money as possible for their stockholders) and they are doing this by trying attempting to lure in Star Trek’s loyal/die hard fan base.

Q) What do Star Trek fans get for their 50+ years of loyalty?

A) a monthly bill, a crappy app that has commercials and doesn’t work very well. Programing besides ST is below the average Star Trek fan. Shall I go on? Thanks for alienating your fans CBS!

In my opinion it’s going to fail. Discovery’s will have a niche audience at best and be dead on arrival at worse.

CBS is being short sighted in an attempt to grow their All Access app that reaches only 4 million people at the moment. Compare that to broadcast tv or even Netflix that with the American audience (by far ST’s biggest fanbase) which has 104 million subscribers (52 million of those are in the US and will not be able to see Discovery) and they are doing a disservice to Star Trek by burying it somewhere where most Americans can’t see it for free and the vast majority won’t pay for it...It may be a great program, but almost nobody in the United States is going to see it so what’s the point? They would be much better off letting the program try and find a large mainstream audience.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/17/technology/business/netflix-earnings/index.html

I just love this quote. It hits it right on the head for what CBS is trying to do with ST. It never ceases to amaze me how people can’t see it for what it is and will happily accept the corporate line.

“As we celebrate mediocrity, all the boys upstairs want to see how much how much you’ll pay for something you used to get for free”

 

[Mudd]

Again, at the end of the business day CBS’S market cap was $23.5 BILLION Dollars. ..From 2009 to 2017 the companies stock has gone from $3.36 to it’s current value of $58.89 per share. That is an increase of 1,652%...The idea that this mega corporation can’t afford to produce new Star Trek episodes and put them on broadcast tv or better yet put them on Netflix (who is paying for a good part of it) is laughable.

If you believe that you wouldn’t have new ST because they couldn’t afford to put it on broadcast tv or that Nielsen ratings are so down that broadcast tv is obsolete, I have a beautiful bridge in Brooklyn I would love to sell you...I’m sorry for the sarcasm, but CBS is doing really, really well financially
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/cbs

The bottom line is they are attempting to add more revenue streams (I understand that they are a corporation and it is their goal to make as much money as possible for their stockholders) and they are doing this by trying attempting to lure in Star Trek’s loyal/die hard fan base.

Q) What do Star Trek fans get for their 50+ years of loyalty?

A) a monthly bill, a crappy app that has commercials and doesn’t work very well. Programing besides ST is below the average Star Trek fan. Shall I go on? Thanks for alienating your fans CBS!

In my opinion it’s going to fail. Discovery’s will have a niche audience at best and be dead on arrival at worse.

CBS is being short sighted in an attempt to grow their All Access app that reaches only 4 million people at the moment. Compare that to broadcast tv or even Netflix that with the American audience (by far ST’s biggest fanbase) which has 104 million subscribers (52 million of those are in the US and will not be able to see Discovery) and they are doing a disservice to Star Trek by burying it somewhere where most Americans can’t see it for free and the vast majority won’t pay for it...It may be a great program, but almost nobody in the United States is going to see it so what’s the point? They would be much better off letting the program try and find a large mainstream audience.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/17/technology/business/netflix-earnings/index.html

I just love this quote. It hits it right on the head for what CBS is trying to do with ST. It never ceases to amaze me how people can’t see it for what it is and will happily accept the corporate line.

“As we celebrate mediocrity, all the boys upstairs want to see how much how much you’ll pay for something you used to get for free”

You repeat yourself to no worthwhile effect.

They owe you nothing for free.

Nothing.

 

[Mudd]

I think CBS is making a huge mistake. They could have gone big.

Not with this show.

 

[The Librarian]

Again, at the end of the business day CBS’S market cap was $23.5 BILLION Dollars. ..From 2009 to 2017 the companies stock has gone from $3.36 to it’s current value of $58.89 per share. That is an increase of 1,652%...The idea that this mega corporation can’t afford to produce new Star Trek episodes and put them on broadcast tv or better yet put them on Netflix (who is paying for a good part of it) is laughable.

If you believe that you wouldn’t have new ST because they couldn’t afford to put it on broadcast tv or that Nielsen ratings are so down that broadcast tv is obsolete, I have a beautiful bridge in Brooklyn I would love to sell you...I’m sorry for the sarcasm, but CBS is doing really, really well financially
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/cbs

The bottom line is they are attempting to add more revenue streams (I understand that they are a corporation and it is their goal to make as much money as possible for their stockholders) and they are doing this by trying attempting to lure in Star Trek’s loyal/die hard fan base.
....

I just love this quote. It hits it right on the head for what CBS is trying to do with ST. It never ceases to amaze me how people can’t see it for what it is and will happily accept the corporate line.

“As we celebrate mediocrity, all the boys upstairs want to see how much how much you’ll pay for something you used to get for free”

[/QUOTE]

Market cap is irrelevant to the discussion of whether or not a Star Trek show is "affordable". What matters is if the show brings in more money than it costs to produce. CBS feels that this is more likely to happen with streaming, particularly in the long-run as broadcast becomes less and less relevant. They have to start building the streaming service now if they want to survive.

Your quote is, as I said earlier, at best a misunderstanding of how things were paid for. We indirectly paid for Star Trek in the past by watching ads. The value of ads on broadcast TV is going down. There has to be some revenue stream to replace it.

Q) What do Star Trek fans get for their 50+ years of loyalty?

A) a monthly bill, a crappy app that has commercials and doesn’t work very well. Programing besides ST is below the average Star Trek fan. Shall I go on? Thanks for alienating your fans CBS!

It's funny that I've never heard fans of "The Good Wife" make these complaints about "The Good Fight". Maybe they're just not as intelligent as you are since they like programming that is "below the average Star Trek fan", or maybe they're happy that their loyalty has been rewarded with a spinoff of a show they like.

 

[fireproof78]

You repeat yourself to no worthwhile effect.

They owe you nothing for free.

Nothing.

Exactly. DSC isn't free to make, and it frankly is making me sick to hear individuals expect it for free.

Programing besides ST is below the average Star Trek fan. Shall I go on? Thanks for alienating your fans CBS!

This statement is pure garbage. One, the "average Star Trek fan" means what? Who is this person so I can know if I measure up?

 

[Captain Chris]

Where I live it’s juat broadcasted on regular networks. Get it on CTV and Space.

 

[Refuge]

It doesn't change the fact that I'm paying to watch one show on the worst network for Sci fi or fantasy with commercials with sometimes poorer quality video and absolutely poorer quality sound while it's a perfect source on Netflix, which I already pay for. I'm sure many people here also have Netflix. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth and so I did not subscribe when the trial ended. Well I was going to cancel then they offered a free month.

I feel sorry for you, in that you should have good service given where the show is made.. it's a pity you can't stream it from a foreign Netflix service..

 

[Vger23]

It saddens me to hear that some people find the app or streaming experience to be subpar. I've literally not experienced even a hiccup. I hope that stays consistent!

 

[cgervasi]

The only thing about a paywall, is that viewers are likely to give the show a shorter leash to grow.

I wonder if I paradoxically might be more into it because it's pay. I lost interest in ENT when it originally aired and went back and watched it later. I had been excited for it at first. If I had paid, might I have stuck with it? Maybe I would have, but the show wasn't as good, so maybe I would have dropped it.

In any case, I think I'm less likely to miss episodes now that I'm paying for them.

 

[ralfy]

Not really. The season is mostly done. Scripts have all been written, filming is pretty much done. Nothing major is going to change.

Next season, if there is still one.

 

[Noname Given]

I think CBS is making a huge mistake. They could have gone big, instead they went niche. Shaking down Trek fans in North America desperate for content. Then to add injury to insult they put it on Netflix everywhere else. Netflix is where this belongs anyway since it has content for Sci Fi fans already. CBS and its crappy app does not. How much you wanna bet most of us already have Netflix?

Then to add double injury they charge people to watch commercials. Then they add triple injury by providing a shitty app that doesn't always stream in 1080p and 2.0 stereo sound while Netflix feed is crystal clear 1080p 5.1 sound.

I have been very disappointed in this whole thing, even though I have enjoyed the show itself.

Um CBS went very big. The sold the International streaming rights (except for Canada - there they just sold t as a series) - and as a result, had practically the entire series production cost covered before the first episode aired. <--- Welcome to the Corporate 'no lose' scenario.

Now the only question is: How much profit will they see?

 

[Paul Weaver]

We never got it for free. We got it at the cost of watching ads

And the only reason that those companies paid for those adverts was because it increased their profits more than the cost of that adverts, by convincing the viewers to buy something they wouldn't normally have bought.

Show costs $1m to make
Network sells $1.2m in adverts, 20% profit
Coca Cola pay $600k to advertise on the show
Pepsi also pay $600k
Coke and Pepsi increase the cost of their products to pay for those adverts
Cost of a coke is normally 20c, but adverts have to be paid for, so the price covers those adverts
1 million viewers each spend $1.60 more on Coca Cola and Pepsi products than they would without the adverts (thus Coke and pepsi make a 20% profit)

Viewers end up spending $1.60 for the episode and a bottle of coke, 40c more than the cost of the production.

By skipping the advertising steps, the viewers spend 20c on a bottle of coke and $1 on the show, saving 40c, saving 20 minutes of brainwashing.

It's a win all round. It's a win for the network (who still gets their profit), and it's a win for the viewer (who gets a cheaper show and saves 20 minutes of their time).

 

[Jayson1]

I think CBS- All Access will only work if it fully embraces genre tv shows and basically become what the CW is with it's comic book lineup. Actually they should have been doing this already on CBS especially if they have been thinking about this app fro awhile.

Seems kind of foolish now that they dumped "Supergirl" so fast instead of putting it on this app so genre fans would at least have 2 shows with expectations for more in the future. I do wonder wonder what their target audience is because "Good Wife" and generic police and sitcom shows doesn't seem like a good blend with genre tv.

Jason

 

[Zod]

Um CBS went very big. The sold the International streaming rights (except for Canada - there they just sold t as a series) - and as a result, had practically the entire series production cost covered before the first episode aired. <--- Welcome to the Corporate 'no lose' scenario.

Now the only question is: How much profit will they see?

The corporate no lose scenario. I love that phrase. I need to find a no lose scenario for me!

What I wished they would have done is put this on a wider distribution platform. Either CBS proper or Netflix everywhere. I work with many twenty somethings who were kids when Enterprise left us. I would have liked more people to be exposed to the show. The ones I talked to expressed interest but none subscribed because there was nothing else for them on CBSAA. CBS is not a natural fit with its older demo

 

[Noname Given]

The corporate no lose scenario. I love that phrase. I need to find a no lose scenario for me!

What I wished they would have done is put this on a wider distribution platform. Either CBS proper or Netflix everywhere. I work with many twenty somethings who were kids when Enterprise left us. I would have liked more people to be exposed to the show. The ones I talked to expressed interest but none subscribed because there was nothing else for them on CBSAA. CBS is not a natural fit with its older demo

Oh, I'm not saying I like that it's on CBSAA - I would have preferred Showtime (which was the other option CBS was talking about since they own the channel too) - but CBS felt this was a good show/popular /IP to generate more interest in, and grow their startup streaming service.

 

[cultcross]

I never thought about this, i.e., the idea that with producers might have to listen to subscribers' advice about the story, characterization, etc.

Listen to which ones? I see almost no consensus on what the show is doing right or wrong here, so they aren't going to get very coherent advice.

 

[XCV330]

I have had some problems with CBSAA, even with a gigabit fiber service. Seems like if it is going to hang up on my ps4, it does so on commercial breaks. i have had no streaming problems at all with other services.

CBSAA does not work at all for me on my old Xbox 360.

 

[The Raven]

They can make people pay if they want to.

I have made decision to not pay. I pay my cable bill monthly that is enough.

 

[ralfy]

Listen to which ones? I see almost no consensus on what the show is doing right or wrong here, so they aren't going to get very coherent advice.

That's because the show has only started. Hence, the idea that producers will have to listen to what subscribers say.

 

[Charles Phipps]

It makes me want to wait and binge watch it.