In the announcement CBS stated that Star Trek 2017 would begin filming in fall (autumn) of this year which is what was being predicted following the reports of CBS booking studio space in Toronto starting in September 2016.
Given the agreement between CBS and Paramount as to how they both manage their respective ownership of Star Trek rights, CBS had to wait 6 months from Star Trek: Beyond's launch to release Star Trek 2017. A 6 month wait translates to late January 2017 which is what fans and credible news sources have been expecting and was confirmed in CBS' official press announcement made earlier in the year.
This could cause problems though. If Star Trek 2017 doesn't begin filming until September 2016 then that gives CBS potentially as little as three months time to start getting episodes aired although depending on the actual start date of filming and just how anal Paramount are being about the 6 months this could allow for more time. Either way it really doesn't sound like much time. Time however is relative so let's look at some Star Trek examples to gauge how big a challenge this will be.
The first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, 'Encounter at Farpoint', first aired on the 28th of September 1987, the first story (then titled 'Meeting at Farpoint') was submitted by Star Trek veteran D.C. Fontana on the 5th of December 1986, almost 10 months before. That doesn't sound very promising so far.
Encounter at Farpoint took almost a year to produce from start to finishThings start to get better though when you look at the actual filming schedule. Rehearsals took part in late May of 1987 with filming starting on the 1st of June 1987 and lasting until the 16th of July 1987 (including the filming of special effect shots). This means that filming started just under 4 months before the episode first aired and that filming finished just under a month and a half before the the episode first aired.This suggests that a late January release is doable but there could be very fine margin for error. On the plus side CBS President Les Moonves did tell investors during CBS’ first-quarter earnings call that "[Star Trek] will be episodic, week by week. It won’t be the Netflix [way].". Whilst that does rule out binge watching at launch it does mean that with episodes being produced weekly the cast and crew have extra time to play with and could realistically be looking at completing episodes a few weeks before they were due to air.
Of course it is entirely possible that CBS will start filming some of Star Trek 2017 ahead of September 2016, either by changing their contract or filming in more than one location, likewise just because CBS can launch Star Trek 2017 in January 2017 doesn't mean they necessarily will although since they have announced a January release it would be embarrassing to let that slide. Regardless, CBS do have it within their power to give the cast and crew more time to work on filming if needed.
Tell us what you think. Is releasing Star Trek 2017 inadvisable even if it is theoretically possible or do CBS know what they are doing? Is there any margin for error?
However, CBS is doing this while keeping one foot in old media, with plans to air the series in first runs overseas, and almost certainly on UK networks like Sky One. They're trying to break into New Media with an Old Media way of thinking. First by gating it behind a subscription fee, and second by making it more easily and reliably accessible elsewhere. Additionally, people overseas will have a much easier time recording the series than if they had to do so through a streaming video window from behind a paywall, making rampant piracy a major concern.
In any case, this creates uneven distribution, and puts STAA in the same situation right off the bat that ended up killing shows like Farscape and the three Stargate series. Shows like Star Trek, Stargate .ect, were often viewed in groups, making sacred viewer numbers deceptive indicators of audience interest. Massive piracy eats away at those numbers, making the show look far less profitable.
An imperfect but less uneven method of distributing content would be to stream weekly episodes on a first run, and then have the VODs and other premium content behind the subscription paywall until the end of the season. Then at some point later having the previous season available on Netflix as the next begins it's first run, and the rest of the premium content on DVD/BD for the inevitable home releases.