SWIMMING UPSTREAM: A PARADIGM SHIFT IN NETWORK ENTERTAINMENT
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A look at Star Trek, Discovery, CBS ALL ACCESS, paid vs. ‘free’ content, and how we consume 23rd Century entertainment in the 21st Century.
.
On CBS All Access, Discovery is breaking new ground in Star Trek storytelling. While Season One told a continuing story arc of epic proportions, many Star Trek fans felt something was missing. The sense of hope and wonder that is integral to Trek was subdued and/or nonexistent, depending on who you ask.
.
Discovery’s producers heard what the fans had to say, and have made changes accordingly. The show is no longer quite so dark, has a damn-likable captain, is dealing with Star Trek-like questions about purpose and existence, and is showcasing a developing crew who work together as a team. Like every Trek sequel series before it, Discovery stumbled out of the gate but is now finding its footing as it moves forward within its second season.
.
So, with the prospect of getting most of what they want from a Trek, why are some fans still refusing to watch?
.
Principle.
OK, and money.
.
Ten bars gold pressed latinum. Some complain that televised Star Trek has always been free. With the advent of CBS ALL ACCESS, you have to pay for a subscription (about $10 a month) in order to see Discovery. On the surface, that complain seems valid. Why should we pay for something that has always been free? However, let’s put that into perspective.
.
Nothing is ever really free. In order to watch what you want in your home, at one time in your life, you may have paid for pay-per-view.
You might pay for HBO.
Right now, you could be paying for STARS, SHOWTIME, or other premium networks.
Maybe you pay for sports channels.
You pay for Netflix.
You might even pay for Amazon Prime.
.
Watching ‘free’ stuff on Youtube? You’re at the least paying to access the internet.
Most importantly, you likely pay for cable (I assure you that 99.9% of you are not using rabbit ears to get a free TV signal. I guarantee that the younger half of you just thought to yourself, “What are rabbit ears?”)
[image error]This. We used to watch shows like this. The pointy things are rabbit ears. Damn kids…
.
The ins-and-outs of TV have changed. The old television network model doesn’t work anymore. In the past, companies would pay good money to advertise during a show’s broadcast, generating the revenue needed to create original programming. With so many channels to choose from today, not enough viewers tune in to any show to make advertising worth what it used to be. In short, commercials no longer pay the bills. At the end of the day, Star Trek, like everything else in entertainment, is a business. The streaming service model generates the income networks need to survive and to continue to bring us the shows we want to see. This is the new reality of delivering quality long-form entertainment.
.
And so dies the cable box. Broadcast network channels are going away. Each network is going to have their own ‘all access.’ DISNEY is doing it. NBC is next. Better get used to it, Netflix and Amazon Prime proved there is more money to be made this way than on TV. Eventually, the concept of cable will go away, replaced with providers that offer access to a number of streaming services—for a price (Personally, I currently have CBS, HBO, STARS, and SHOWTIME as add-ons for my Amazon Prime). New technologies always beget new forms of entertainment. Remember when that damn tube-box ruined radio serials? No? Well, it did.
.
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“Why do you need special effects? Why can’t you just listen and see them in your mind? Why isn’t everything always the same? Why are things different?”
“Shut up, grandma’s grandma.”
.
Remember when suddenly you had to have cable to have a decent TV signal? Or h ow about when you paid to go see a Star Trek in a movie theater?
[image error]
“You want me to pay money to go see this Star Trek Moving Picture? In my day, Star Trek was on the TV and was free!”
“Shut up, Grandpa’s grandpa.”
.
Special Note: the verbal abuse aimed at the elderly as depicted on this page is intended for educational purposes only. Stay kind to your seniors and stay off their lawns. No old people were harmed during the writing of this essay. Thank you.
.
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The real reason Star Trek fans don’t want to pay for Discovery.
[image error]
.
What am I paying for? The production quality of Discovery is that of a feature film—you are getting a lot for your buck. If you pay $10 a month for CBS ALL ACCESS in order to watch Discovery, and you are getting one episode a week, that’s four episodes every 30 days. That means you are paying a whopping $2.50 per episode to watch new Star Trek. This is a great price even great if you hate Discovery. If you are actually watching DISCO when you complain about it all over facebook, you can back up your claims with empirical evidence. That’s $2.50 for a week’s worth of trolling material! Like the show or not, that’s not bad, no matter how you slice it.
.
Or you can wait until Season Two is over, join, and watch the entire show in one month. With two seasons and about thirty episodes at that point, you’d be paying .34 cents an episode. And the cost efficiency is getting better than that, even. With at least four planned Star Trek shows coming to ALL ACCESS, your actual cost per content will soon be negligible.
.
I’m sorry, why are you complaining, again? Just as entertainment itself evolves, the form in which it is delivered does as well. As always, the times are changing.
.
TV is dead.
Long live TV.
A look at Star Trek, Discovery, CBS ALL ACCESS, paid vs. ‘free’ content, and how we consume 23rd Century entertainment in the 21st Century.
.
On CBS All Access, Discovery is breaking new ground in Star Trek storytelling. While Season One told a continuing story arc of epic proportions, many Star Trek fans felt something was missing. The sense of hope and wonder that is integral to Trek was subdued and/or nonexistent, depending on who you ask.
.
Discovery’s producers heard what the fans had to say, and have made changes accordingly. The show is no longer quite so dark, has a damn-likable captain, is dealing with Star Trek-like questions about purpose and existence, and is showcasing a developing crew who work together as a team. Like every Trek sequel series before it, Discovery stumbled out of the gate but is now finding its footing as it moves forward within its second season.
.
So, with the prospect of getting most of what they want from a Trek, why are some fans still refusing to watch?
.
Principle.
OK, and money.
.
Ten bars gold pressed latinum. Some complain that televised Star Trek has always been free. With the advent of CBS ALL ACCESS, you have to pay for a subscription (about $10 a month) in order to see Discovery. On the surface, that complain seems valid. Why should we pay for something that has always been free? However, let’s put that into perspective.
.
Nothing is ever really free. In order to watch what you want in your home, at one time in your life, you may have paid for pay-per-view.
You might pay for HBO.
Right now, you could be paying for STARS, SHOWTIME, or other premium networks.
Maybe you pay for sports channels.
You pay for Netflix.
You might even pay for Amazon Prime.
.
Watching ‘free’ stuff on Youtube? You’re at the least paying to access the internet.
Most importantly, you likely pay for cable (I assure you that 99.9% of you are not using rabbit ears to get a free TV signal. I guarantee that the younger half of you just thought to yourself, “What are rabbit ears?”)
[image error]This. We used to watch shows like this. The pointy things are rabbit ears. Damn kids…
.
The ins-and-outs of TV have changed. The old television network model doesn’t work anymore. In the past, companies would pay good money to advertise during a show’s broadcast, generating the revenue needed to create original programming. With so many channels to choose from today, not enough viewers tune in to any show to make advertising worth what it used to be. In short, commercials no longer pay the bills. At the end of the day, Star Trek, like everything else in entertainment, is a business. The streaming service model generates the income networks need to survive and to continue to bring us the shows we want to see. This is the new reality of delivering quality long-form entertainment.
.
And so dies the cable box. Broadcast network channels are going away. Each network is going to have their own ‘all access.’ DISNEY is doing it. NBC is next. Better get used to it, Netflix and Amazon Prime proved there is more money to be made this way than on TV. Eventually, the concept of cable will go away, replaced with providers that offer access to a number of streaming services—for a price (Personally, I currently have CBS, HBO, STARS, and SHOWTIME as add-ons for my Amazon Prime). New technologies always beget new forms of entertainment. Remember when that damn tube-box ruined radio serials? No? Well, it did.
.
[image error]
“Why do you need special effects? Why can’t you just listen and see them in your mind? Why isn’t everything always the same? Why are things different?”
“Shut up, grandma’s grandma.”
.
Remember when suddenly you had to have cable to have a decent TV signal? Or h ow about when you paid to go see a Star Trek in a movie theater?
[image error]
“You want me to pay money to go see this Star Trek Moving Picture? In my day, Star Trek was on the TV and was free!”
“Shut up, Grandpa’s grandpa.”
.
Special Note: the verbal abuse aimed at the elderly as depicted on this page is intended for educational purposes only. Stay kind to your seniors and stay off their lawns. No old people were harmed during the writing of this essay. Thank you.
.
[image error]
The real reason Star Trek fans don’t want to pay for Discovery.
[image error]
.
What am I paying for? The production quality of Discovery is that of a feature film—you are getting a lot for your buck. If you pay $10 a month for CBS ALL ACCESS in order to watch Discovery, and you are getting one episode a week, that’s four episodes every 30 days. That means you are paying a whopping $2.50 per episode to watch new Star Trek. This is a great price even great if you hate Discovery. If you are actually watching DISCO when you complain about it all over facebook, you can back up your claims with empirical evidence. That’s $2.50 for a week’s worth of trolling material! Like the show or not, that’s not bad, no matter how you slice it.
.
Or you can wait until Season Two is over, join, and watch the entire show in one month. With two seasons and about thirty episodes at that point, you’d be paying .34 cents an episode. And the cost efficiency is getting better than that, even. With at least four planned Star Trek shows coming to ALL ACCESS, your actual cost per content will soon be negligible.
.
I’m sorry, why are you complaining, again? Just as entertainment itself evolves, the form in which it is delivered does as well. As always, the times are changing.
.
TV is dead.
Long live TV.
—Andrew E. C. Gaska
An author, designer, game-writer, and graphic novelist with twenty years of industry experience, Gaska has worked as a freelance consultant to 20th Century Fox and Rockstar Games. In addition to being the Senior Development Editor for Lion Forge comics and animation, he is a contributor to both their Quillion gaming department and their licensing team.
blamventures.com | Twitter: @andrewecgaska | Facebook: AndrewECGaska
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