CBS lawsuit puts Star Trek reunification in doubt

CBS has filed suit to block Shari Redstone and her company, National Amusements from forcing the merger. 

It looks like the merger that was in the works between CBS and Viacom is in serious jeopardy. Yesterday, CBS filed suit to block Shari Redstone and her company, National Amusements from forcing the merger.

What appears to be the sticking point is that folks on the CBS side of the merger were worried about what shape the newly formed conglomerate would take. And what’s that? You don’t come to a place called Red Shirts Always Die for corporate analysis and you really only care about how this affects the future of Trek? Yes. That makes perfect sense. There are other considerations to take into account that aren’t Trek related. Which is probably why they don’t have a bunch of Star Trek fans negotiating the merger.

The two companies split in 2006, and for some reason, made Star Trek owned by both companies. Viacom held on to the film library and rights to make future films, and CBS had television and brand rights. One of the questions is “why?”

I’m no businessman, but it seems to me that having two completely separate companies owning the rights to disparate parts of one franchise is stupid. Granted, that’s a judgment call, but I just made it.

Next: Bare-Bones Star Trek – TOS Season One, Part Two

CBS and Paramount or Viacom being together again could’ve been great news for the franchise. I may have led to cross promotions and co-financing between the two. The film library may have been added to CBS All Access. Hopes were high when the merger was first proposed as it could’ve meant a coherent shared universe among all Trek properties. One half of the merger suing to stop it probably means that it is less likely to happen.