News Netflix not airing Short Treks, deal future questioned

https://www.tvwise.co.uk/2018/09/star-trek-discovery-spin-off-short-treks-not-coming-to-netflix/

This isn't surprising, as Netflix probably wants out of the Star Trek deal, as it's inadvertently helping a competitor. They have their own similar vibe space series starting soon too, with Katee Sackhoff.

So does CBS All Access go global a little earlier than planned? Or do they find a new partner? I've done a poll.

 

An FYI, the Discovery deal dates back to 2016, when CBS All Access wasn't planned as a global streaming service. Now it's rolling out in Canada and Australia, and then soon after in Europe, so it very much is a competitor now, with 4 planned Star Trek series other than DSC and loads of new shows. I mean, CBS are building an entire movie studio to film content for the service, so I understand Netflix wanting out, if that's their intention.

 

Meh,I wasn’t that interested in them anyway so it no big loss. There are “other” ways to watch them after all.

 

These are the equivalent of webisodes. It's like complaining BBCA didn't air Pond Life from Doctor Who.

 

Firstly, the entire series is webisodes if you're going to use dumb outdated terminology.

This is also substantially more than your typical webisodes, given the budget ($1M to $2M an episode?), talent and storylines involved.

We know two brand new characters are being introduced to the series through these "webisodes", one of which may very well be a precursor to the Picard series give it's the same writer, so it is a big deal.

 

Pardon me for being cynical, but it is 4 15 minute shorts being released once a month. It is entirely so that CBSAA can entice people to subscribe/stay subscribed until they get all their other flavors of Trek off the ground to keep Trek fans subscribed year round. I really don't think they will have greater franchise implications beyond that. It is quite literally the least amount of cost and effort they thought they could get away with to give Trek fans a reason to stay with the service.

 

On what planet is spending anywhere between $6M to $9M on these short films "the least amount of cost and effort they thought they could get away"? Please enlighten me.

Because I think would have been a lot cheaper and easier to do, say, audio commentaries or extended versions of S1 with deleted scenes inserted in.

 

We weren't. That clip is a US exclusive too.

 

But at least that one was on YouTube.

 

Assuming the $8 million per regular episode number is correct, and taking the low end of your numbers, they spent $6 million on 60 minutes of content, as opposed to $8 million on around 42ish minutes. Now, the goal, remember, is to give Trek fans a reason EACH MONTH to stay subscribed until the show starts airing. I don't think releasing an audio commentary a month or bonus scenes for an ep every month gets you there. So, lets assume their experiment is wildly successful and everyone stays subscribed. That's roughly 2 million subscribers (based on the numbers we've seen spitballed around) at a minimum of $6 per month, so that is $12 million a month x 4 so that $6-9 million nets them $48 million. I would say that is pretty cost effective.

 

References?

 

I was going to keep Netflix for Trek once they lost the Marvel shows. There's literally nothing else on it I want to see.

If they do drop Trek, bye Netflix...

 

There's enough on Netflix to still keep me very interested, but I see what you mean.

 

I normally dislike single image or gif responses, but seeing as it's Ezri being cute, I'll allow it.

 

Its a shame that Netflix are not going to carry Short Treks for now but can't see any evidence for the future deal being questioned other than the OP.

Pretty sure they are part funding DSC so I can't see why they would want to pull out now.

 

It wasn't US Exclusive, it was in Canada too, on the youtube page of the TV channel that airs the show here.