What channel should a new Trek TV series be on?
- Thread starter jefferiestubes8
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Wrong, if the movies are successful it proves there is a market for big budget summer scifi/action Trek. To prove there is a market for TV Trek there needs to be a new space based TV show that does well. Every time a space base show flops (Virtuality, Defying Gravity) it makes it even harder to prove TV Trek will work.
I'm sorry but the bulk of sci-fi that has been coming out in the last few years on TV has been consistently bad, I don't know anything about Virtuality or Defying Gravity, and what I do know about for the most part is terrible (Stargate), with only one exception. It seems that the only consistently good sci-fi as of late has been coming out in novels. Star Trek has a built in fan base, and if they produce a non episodic format again they might succeed again in capturing the casual viewer. Don't presume that Star Trek is dead when it did so well even when I thought it was awful (Enterprise should have done far worse in my opinion).
I just checked Wikipedia for USA Network:
Ratings:
Well it shows that a primetime show could get a higher rating here than on CBS owned The CW Television Network.
I didn't know it when I started this poll/thread that
So that option is really out for Trek with a core male audience.
What do you guys think of this if CBS Television produces it and sells the US distribution for first run to USA Network?
Would USA Network be in any better position than SyFy for first run?
Who else would be a likely candidate in 2013 for CBS Television to license the first run to air it?
USA's tag line is "characters welcome." All their shows have quirky characters. A Star Trek show could be created that fit the USA style, but it would feel different classic Trek. A better network thematically would be SyFy or TNT.
On the flip side, the viewer argument for USA looks even stronger if you look at Burn Notice viewers not USA averages. The first half of this Burn Notice season all had more than 5m viewers. The first half finale peaked at 7.6m viewers. Enterprise by contrast dropped below 5m in early season 2 and dropped below 7.6m after Terra Nova(1x06). So a successful USA show can expect to attract enough viewers to be sustainable.
On TNT, Leverage seems to be drawing about 3.5m viewers. I'm having trouble tracking down ratings for SyFy shows, but I think I remember BSG peaking a little over 3m and beating Enterprise. So either TNT or SyFy may be able to sustain a large enough audience, but it'll be tougher than USA. Although they all should have roughly the same coverage.
On the flip side, the viewer argument for USA looks even stronger if you look at Burn Notice viewers not USA averages. The first half of this Burn Notice season all had more than 5m viewers. The first half finale peaked at 7.6m viewers. Enterprise by contrast dropped below 5m in early season 2 and dropped below 7.6m after Terra Nova(1x06). So a successful USA show can expect to attract enough viewers to be sustainable.
On TNT, Leverage seems to be drawing about 3.5m viewers. I'm having trouble tracking down ratings for SyFy shows, but I think I remember BSG peaking a little over 3m and beating Enterprise. So either TNT or SyFy may be able to sustain a large enough audience, but it'll be tougher than USA. Although they all should have roughly the same coverage.
On Sci-Fi BSG beat ENT only when you compare the best ratings of BSG and the very worst ratings of ENT. Most of the time BSG had ratings far below what ENT had in it's last season. A show can survive on Sci-Fi if the ratings hover at HH 1.5.
The worst ENT ever had was 1.4 and 1.5. Most episodes were more then enough to make it a success on Sci-Fi.
The worst ENT ever had was 1.4 and 1.5. Most episodes were more then enough to make it a success on Sci-Fi.
I was talking about Jan-March 2005 when both ENT and BSG were on Friday night. ENT had nielsens in the 1.5 to 2 range, while BSG was 2.1-2.6. Of course UPN and SciFi have different market sizes so those numbers don't compare perfectly, but I can't find total viewer numbers for BSG.
You're right that for most of its time ENT had better ratings than most of BSG, it's just that ENT's worst ratings at its end happened, while BSG had its best ratings at its start and both of those periods overlapped.
You're right that for most of its time ENT had better ratings than most of BSG, it's just that ENT's worst ratings at its end happened, while BSG had its best ratings at its start and both of those periods overlapped.
Yep. I don't want a USA-style Star Trek. But how about FX, which is making a name for itself with edgy, male-skewing shows. Or go classy, premium-cable-lite, with AMC.
I just saw this story which shows what broadcast channels are getting per 30 second spot for each show. It should give a good indication of what can realistically be expected in terms of revenue for a show. It looks like roughly each viewer is worth $.01 for each 30 second spot. Fringe currently makes $120k/commercial. Assuming 36 commercials for each show that means the network takes in $4.3m/episode. Factoring in costs and profit along the way Fringe probably can cost a max of $2m an episode to be profitable.
If a Star Trek TV show plans for roughly the 10 million viewers Fringe gets, then it will need to keep it's budget at $2m/episode. If it goes the cable route and only plans on 5 million viewers then it will need to cut its budget to $1m.
If a Star Trek TV show plans for roughly the 10 million viewers Fringe gets, then it will need to keep it's budget at $2m/episode. If it goes the cable route and only plans on 5 million viewers then it will need to cut its budget to $1m.
Edgy? Male-skewed? Yeah that sounds like crap and silly action scenes and women with big boobs and little brain. Not what I want in Trek.
How about Sci-Fi?
Really? I know shows on Sci-Fi have a budget of $1.3 to $2 million. $1.3 was the original cost of Stargate and $2 million is the cost of Warehouse 13.
startrekrcks
Fleet Captain
why can't sci fi not have the rights to air a new Star Trek series
J
Jetfire
Guest
The CW.
However if the episodes aired only on YT it would get more viewers week to week.
However if the episodes aired only on YT it would get more viewers week to week.
Ah yes the video-on-demand distribution path. Which content provider will be the king?
Clancy_s you and Jetfire bring up a serious distribution path and content provider- Youtube that will be gaining a lot of traction in the next 2-3 years before the next Trek TV series goes into Production.
I alluded to this in March with in a discussion about the future of Trek DVDs:
I mentioned this last month in a discussion about Blu-ray players.
This month a major media TV channel conglomerate may be merging and that may mean changes in media and business models:
October 2009 month
And Youtube's main competition: Hulu
-Hulu CEO Jason Kilar, October 2009
Heck Clancy_s I even started a poll last month about which video-on-demand provider people would use to get the series 6 Trek download.
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*iz new*
I think in the end that's how it'll be, once fast enough connections are widely available and once the studios accept the need to make it available to everyone at the same time. Electronic distribution by subcription / paid per download or whatever is IMO the best way to do it.
In regional Aus there's not much option atm for those wanting to do it legally, especially for someone using linux, so I'm not familiar with any of the options in your poll.
The problem is people are still used to watching TV for free, or if they pay it's for a generic access subscription, not per show. Yes, faster internet speeds will help, as will connecting internet devices to TVs, but until people show a willingness to pay per show first run internet streaming will be DOA.
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AviTrek here is a summary of your posts on this thread title:
Okay you've picked 5 cable TV networks and one premium channle cable network. This is getting confusing.
Which one do you think is most appropriate and realistic in 2012-2014?
Okay you've picked 5 cable TV networks and one premium channle cable network. This is getting confusing.
Which one do you think is most appropriate and realistic in 2012-2014?
^ Well that's just a testament to how tricky this question is. 
None of them are the obvious choice, so we might as well wander all over the map trying them all out.
I wonder if CBS wouldn't be right after all. Sure, the demo is wrong, but it's got a big audience and all it would need is a slice of their existing audience. CBS is skewing too old and that's got to be concerning them.
They are successful which means high standards, which is a threat to Trek or any genre show. But if they accept they aren't going to do CSI numbers, and can be patient, they also have the comfort zone to nurture a Trek series that won't be making the huge bucks they're used to.
They should see Trek as part of a long-term strategy to lay a foundation for the future. CBS' audience is going to start dying off, and the time to plan for that, and invest in a solution, is now.
None of them are the obvious choice, so we might as well wander all over the map trying them all out.I wonder if CBS wouldn't be right after all. Sure, the demo is wrong, but it's got a big audience and all it would need is a slice of their existing audience. CBS is skewing too old and that's got to be concerning them.
They are successful which means high standards, which is a threat to Trek or any genre show. But if they accept they aren't going to do CSI numbers, and can be patient, they also have the comfort zone to nurture a Trek series that won't be making the huge bucks they're used to.
They should see Trek as part of a long-term strategy to lay a foundation for the future. CBS' audience is going to start dying off, and the time to plan for that, and invest in a solution, is now.
[sound of needle on record being ripped]
All a company like CBS Television cares about is each quarters profits. Your statement would indicate they would be 'losing money' in the same time slot than if they programmed another crime procedural...
Trek needs a better home than that.
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