Star Trek likely to be "reevaluated" by Skydance upon merger completion; what does this mean?

Could Star Trek be in trouble with the new merger? On a recent investor call, the new controlling heads of Paramount David Ellison (Skydance) and Jeff Shell (RedBird) made it clear that they were going to reexamine the franchises under the Paramount banner. There were talks of licensing certain IPs (intellectual properties, i.e. shows and films) to other streaming services, and talks about the future of Paramount+ will be had.

Right now it looks like the idea is to keep the service, but they may no longer be worried about competition with the likes of Netflix, with the hope of sending some of their bigger ticket items out to other providers, which they'll have to pay to use. It could help make Paramount+ profitable, especially if they keep the NFL on board.

What does this mean for Star Trek? Well, the new group is likely going to keep the franchise together and in-house. Though where it'll air is anyone's guess. The franchise could end up on Netflix, sort of how the classic shows used to be on the service before being pulled to Paramount+.

The new management duo will also be looking to see how Star Trek: Prodigy does as a first-run show for Netflix. If it does well, they may look to move other programs to the service, as long as it means a nice payday for Paramount.

As far as the future of the brand, Star Trek appears to be one of the few franchises that SkyDance is excited to inherit, naming the films they were a part of the investor's call. Likely as a way to talk up the familiarity with the brand.

It's a prudent move too. Star Trek may not be the biggest franchise Paramount owns, but we'll see what's to be said when Yellowstone returns for the second half of season five this November. Yet, even if Yellowstone is still the most popular franchise Paramount has, Star Trek is its most dependable and longest-running.

With new cash to invest in the streaming service and its projects, Star Trek should be looking better than ever with the new management team/owners in place.