CBS Interactive CEO Jim Lanzor just angered a lot of
Star Trek fans with his remarks concerning the network's decision to air
Star Trek: Discovery (Gizmodo's first sentence in their article is "CBS can eat a bag of d*#ks.) on their fledgling streaming platform instead of on the actual channel. However, there are quite a few
Trekkies who think he might be correct in his line of reasoning...
"
Sci-fi is not something that has traditionally done really well on broadcast,” he explained. “
It’s not impossible, for the future, if somebody figures it out. And things like ‘Lost’ and ‘Heroes’ have had parts of, you know, sci-fi, but historically, a show like ‘Star Trek’ wouldn’t necessarily be a broadcast show, at this point.” On the podcast, Lanzor also added that
Discovery will essentially be rated TV MA, with the ability to swear and have nudity.
The point Lanzor was trying to get across is that CBS' largest demographic (mostly those of the Baby Boomer generation) doesn't respond well to sci-fi, as evidenced by the recent relocation of
Supergirl to The CW.
In the US, following its premiere on the actual CBS channel,
Star Trek Discovery will be exclusively shown on the CBS All Acess streaming platform. In the rest of the world, it will air on Netflix.
[Note: Lanzor's remarks come courtesy of his guest appearance on the
Recode Media with Peter Kafka podcast.]