From everything I've read and seen, Starfleet Academy seems like it's being produced to be the equivalent of a CW show like Legends of Tomorrow or Gotham Knights. A cheaper Canadian production using an established IP with young (cheap) talent with the hope of drawing in teens and kids.
The CW is having problems (they cancelled 3/4 of their schedule).
Now that makes sense if you're The CW and you're just trying to draw in a smaller demo audience on network television to get specific ad spending, but someone tell me how Paramount thinks Starfleet Academy gets them more subscriptions for a streaming service?
P+ wants a "bridge" show in between Prodigy and adult stuff like Disco and Picard.