Actually, BillJ is right on this one. You may have forgotten this, but both the Director and the VP of Multimedia at CBS TV Distribution did say pretty much exactly that about two years ago when they were interviewed by TrekCore:
Now that was two years ago, so there's that. The primary thing that's changed in the two years since they made these statements is that Seasons 2-6 of TNG have come out and sold quite a bit less than Season 1. So maybe that changes the calculus somewhat... as in, it no longer matters how well TNG does because they can't use it as a point in their favor when making the pitch to their bosses.
These guys together have overseen the HD remastering of over 200 CBS/Paramount TV series, many with much, much smaller fan bases than DS9. They're pushing as hard as they can for DS9, fighting the good fight as it were, it's just that their new bosses* aren't ready to allocate the money (which CBS has plenty of, to be sure**) for the budget they need to do the job right, ala TNG-R.
* Note that the two execs mentioned by Ryan Adams have left CBS and been promoted, respectively, since the interview. I believe the person in charge today is Armando Nuñez, who is President and CEO of CBS Global and he oversees CBS TV Distribution and reports directly to Leslie Moonves, the President and CEO of CBS Corp. So there's a completely different guy they have to get the greenlight from than the two mentioned in the interview who greenlit TNG-R.
** For perspective, shares of CBS stock have gone up nearly 200% in the three years that have elapsed since the TNG project was announced in September of 2011. CBS Corp's net income is $1.879 billion. DS9 could be remastered for less than 1% of that, or just over half of Les Moonves' nearly $30 million 2013 bonus. (Moonves is the second most highly paid executive in the United States.) Just having a bit of fun here.
) to a good cause.
