STARTREK.com Team Eliminated

[WxMurray 0]

Posted about half an hour ago on STARTREK.com:

 

Sadly, we must report that CBS Interactive organization is being restructured, and the production team that brings you the STARTREK.COM site has been eliminated. Effective immediately.

 

We don't know the ultimate fate of this site, which has served millions of Star Trek fans for the last thirteen years.

 

If you have comments, please send them to editor @ startrek.com - we hope someone at CBS will read them.

 

Thank you for your loyal fandom over the years. It has been a pleasure to serve you.

 

Wow...

 

(original link)

[STSF Seiben 0]

Wow indeed... I liked going there to read the Trek Life strips and on occasion Kate's columns as well. Not to mention the publicity STSF will lose if Startrek.com does close.

[Aaron_Westler 0]

Wow....

 

Theres no way they would delete that entire site... theres just too much history there!

 

And what of the upcoming movie and possible future series?

[TKAR 0]

Just saw it cbs can do anything

[Tyana 0]

As someone who is a *major* Jericho fan, I'd like to comment that I am not surprised.

 

This is the new CBS, and one of the reasons why I have resorted to watching basic cable series instead.

 

 

Enjoy. :/

[FredM 0]

Hey there,

 

The details of this likely will never be known. One thing that I will point out is that presently, due to the writer's strike, large numbers of people are being laid off at CBS. The company simply isn't bringing in money. Other networks are having to take similar actions to remain out of the red. NBC was returning millions of dollars worth of advertising dollars because the shows the ads would appear on won't be seen. Regretfully, this may be just another example.

 

Personally, I doubt very highly the website itself will vanish. From a purely marketing standpoint, it is an asset. Now, whether or not it could be reverted into more of a movie site with less interactive content is a possibility. In regard to the relationship between STSF and the website, I think a wait and see approach is best. There isn't any reason to panic, at least not yet. :lol:

[Guest Fiona Weber]

This is describable with a word that I can't post in a family environment.

 

ST.COM had a phenomenal staff, and of all the decisions they've made with the franchise, this is probably one of the worst.

 

Am I the only one who genuinely wishes sometimes that they'd sell the franchise rights?

[WxMurray 0]

The other thing is that STARTREK.com has been run by its own staff for many many years, and within the last year it has become one of the CBS properties as part of the Viacom split. My suspicion is that CBS wants to have all of its sites run by the same group of people at CBS Interactive. It's good business sense - why pay and extra group of people to maintain a site when the rest of your code monkeys can do it themselves.

 

My fear is that the new STARTREK.com (I'm operating under the assumption of "when", not "if") will become part of the herd with all sorts of moving and flashing parts and Flash design and stuff, which will make the site slow and annoying. Simpler is better (one of the things I like about the STSF site - it's not an all-out assault on the senses like many sites are today).

[Atragon9 0]

Hey there,

 

The details of this likely will never be known. One thing that I will point out is that presently, due to the writer's strike, large numbers of people are being laid off at CBS. The company simply isn't bringing in money. Other networks are having to take similar actions to remain out of the red. NBC was returning millions of dollars worth of advertising dollars because the shows the ads would appear on won't be seen. Regretfully, this may be just another example.

 

Personally, I doubt very highly the website itself will vanish. From a purely marketing standpoint, it is an asset. Now, whether or not it could be reverted into more of a movie site with less interactive content is a possibility. In regard to the relationship between STSF and the website, I think a wait and see approach is best. There isn't any reason to panic, at least not yet. :lol:

Yes, like what he said!

 

The relationship between ST.COM and STSF.NET was between the two staffs with an eye toward how we can benefit each other. When a final decision is reached, those of us at STSF's GM Council will have to start our commuincations all over again. With the new movie, we know they won't kill it off.

[V'Roy 0]

Yes, like what he said!

 

The relationship between ST.COM and STSF.NET was between the two staffs with an eye toward how we can benefit each other. When a final decision is reached, those of us at STSF's GM Council will have to start our commuincations all over again. With the new movie, we know they won't kill it off.

Well we said they would never kill off Spock and Kirk and Data too, but look what happened.

 

Personally I don't think the startrek.com site is very professional looking. Maybe CBS firing the staff and replacing the site with something else is the way to go.

 

Besides, I think it shows very bad taste for the web staff to bash their employers, however brief the relationship was, by saying "If you have comments, please send them to editor @ startrek.com - we hope someone at CBS will read them." By bashing the owners of the site they are just showing more such unprofessionalism. I think CBS has legal grounds to sue them since they are using CBS resources to make that statement.

Edited December 16, 2007 by V'Roy

[MisterSmith 0]

I'm gonna guess that Star Trek is going to end up having it's own part of CBS.com much like some of the other specials. If you go to their website and click on "shows" there's a whole listing of specials i.e. the Tony awards and all the Christmas stuff.

 

So startrek.com will stay alive, atleast to some depth...

[FredM 0]

Hey all,

 

The following tidbits of information have appeared over at the TrekMovie website. Rather interesting....

 

Source: StarTrek.com Team Laid Off: Future Of Site In Doubt

TrekMovie.com has learned that the StarTrek.com cut was part of a larger restructuring and cost cutting at CBS Interactive. Apparently there were dozens of people laid off across CBS in addition to the StarTrek.com team. But StarTrek.com seems to be the only case where an entire team running a specific site was let go. StarTrek.com is somewhat unique within the CBS empire as the only site for a legacy brand (for example, CBS continue to syndicate and license “I Love Lucy,” but have no dedicated site for that brand). It could be that some bean counter took a look StarTrek.com it and realized that since there was no currently running first run Star Trek TV series and that the new Star Trek movie was a Paramount property, that the site was expendable. Two years ago when Viacom split, Paramount Digital (the former home for StarTrek.com) was shut down…putting the future StarTrek.com into doubt. With CBS Corporation being the new home for the Star Trek brand, CBS Interactive decided to take StarTrek.com over. It is possible the same thing might happen again. However, that time the team wasn’t let go.

News of layoffs at CBS Interactive were reported across the web, mostly focusing on the firings at CBS News (conflicting reports have it at either seven or twenty CBSNews.com employees fired). CBS issued the following statement about the layoffs, but there was no mention of StarTrek.com:

Along with the core success of CBSsports.com, new online sites from Last.fm to Dotspotter have infused invaluable DNA into the division, and are actively translating their experience in community-building to all of the Company’s properties and content. In the coming year, we intend to build on our success by expanding on that strategy of building communities online. Part of achieving this goal is reorganizing the way we do business to align the division’s workforce with our new vision, including increasing our operations in the Bay Area — the heart of so much of this activity. We’re confident that CBS Interactive’s focus on consumer involvement will help the Division experience another record year of growth in ‘08 and beyond

StarTrek.com was running out of the LA Area, so it is possible it will be reborn in the Bay Area, but it doesn’t appear that any of the current team was offered the opportunity to move. At this point it is still unclear if the site has any future at all.

[Grom 0]

Well we said they would never kill off Spock and Kirk and Data too, but look what happened.

 

Personally I don't think the startrek.com site is very professional looking. Maybe CBS firing the staff and replacing the site with something else is the way to go.

 

Besides, I think it shows very bad taste for the web staff to bash their employers, however brief the relationship was, by saying "If you have comments, please send them to editor @ startrek.com - we hope someone at CBS will read them." By bashing the owners of the site they are just showing more such unprofessionalism. I think CBS has legal grounds to sue them since they are using CBS resources to make that statement.

 

I would generally agree. Unless you are under a specific contract or protected by a union through a bargaining agreement, there is no right of employment in the United States. I live near the AOL headquarters in Virginia, I know this first hand. :lol:

[the doctor 0]

that's my home site waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[STSF NDak 0]

I am not honestly that surprised at this move. As Fred noted, with the writer's strike, most of the major networks are having to restructure themselves because the money's just not there.

[AnnikaHansen 0]

ST.Com Refugee over here :lol:

[Hilee 0]

Actually the formula as indicated previously is really simple.

 

No money/revenues = No site... sad really.

[WxMurray 0]

Seems that STARTREK.com isn't going anywhere and that someone is keeping the site updated - there is indeed a new episode of The Trek Life Today, as well as this announcement:

 

CBS Interactive, which oversees StarTrek.com, is reorganizing the way it does business to align the division’s workforce with its new vision that focuses on building communities online.

 

CBS Interactive remains absolutely committed to StarTrek.com and to growing the site along with its users by directly tapping into and utilizing the passionate fan base that has supported the site.

 

It has been your support and contributions to the lore of Star Trek that are what make StarTrek.com a vibrant place to be. To that end, we encourage you to keep the conversation alive and flowing using our message boards.

[FredM 0]

Seems that STARTREK.com isn't going anywhere and that someone is keeping the site updated - there is indeed a new episode of The Trek Life Today

 

Hey there,

 

Apparently no one actually did that...the computers are still pumping out pre-programmed material that was entered in weeks ago. TrekMovie posted a new article that I think has some interesting points to it....especially the part about some within CBS not being aware of what had happened at CBS-I until after it had already happened.

 

Source: Update on Fate of Startrek.Com

Official Statement from CBS (should be available on STARTREK.COM shortly)

CBS Interactive, which oversees StarTrek.com, is reorganizing the way it does business to align the division’s workforce with its new vision that focuses on building communities online.

 

CBS Interactive remains absolutely committed to StarTrek.com and to growing the site along with its users by directly tapping into and utilizing the passionate fan base that has supported the site.

 

It has been your support and contributions to the lore of Star Trek that are what make StarTrek.com a vibrant place to be. To that end, we encourage you to keep the conversation alive and flowing using our message boards.

 

Jump into the conversation here!

 

CBS committed to keeping StarTrek.com alive

The statement is similar to the more general statement issued by CBS on Friday. CBS appears to be committed to keeping a site up at startrek.com, but what site and who will run it is still up in the air. Someone close to the matter tells TrekMovie.com “the site will get stronger, better, faster, live longer and prosper even more…there are no plans to shut it down.” TrekMovie.com can confirm that the Friday decision was entirely made by CBS Interactive and was part of a larger cost-cutting and restructuring effort at CBS-I. TrekMovie.com has also learned that some within CBS (outside of CBS Interactive) are not happy about the layoffs and are making inquirees internally about the fate of the site and the laid off staff. There is some speculation that the budget cuts are related to belt-tightening across all the networks who are going to be facing a big drop in ad revenue in the new year due to the WGA strike.

UPDATED: Farewell removed…staff still laid off

The above statement has now been put up at StarTrek.com, it has replaced the ‘farewell’ message and banner that were put up by the staff on Friday. However, this is not because they have been rehired. TrekMovie.com has confirmed that the staff are still laid off. You may notice some updates to the site today and over the next week, but these are all automated updates that were programmed in last week.

 

Nothing to do with new moive

The lay offs at StarTrek.com have nothing to do with Paramount or their plans for promotion of the new Star Trek movie over the next year. As has been the custom with other recent films, Paramount will have a separate promotional site for the new movie (which would be linked to startrek.com). To date Paramount has been using ’startrek.com’ as the destination for all promotional materials related to the upcoming Star Trek film. It is likely that this would also be the case for the upcoming trailer premiering on January 18th with Cloverfield. It is unknown what effect the changes at StarTrek.com will have on Paramount’s plans for the online promotion for Star Trek. Bear in mind that CBS and Paramount share the Star Trek brand and although they work closely together, they are totally separate entities with their own agendas and decision making structures.

[WxMurray 0]

Hey there,

 

Apparently no one actually did that...the computers are still pumping out pre-programmed material that was entered in weeks ago.

Yeah, so I found out soon afterwards. Oh well.

[dot506 0]

if Startrek.com shuts down i think my head would probably explode

[FredM 0]

Feb 28 | Marc Wade, the former director of production for STARTREK.COM has joined the Roddenberry.com team as the company's Senior Star Trek Correspondent. A new column by Marc will be featured on Roddenberry.com every Friday beginning February 29, 2008. The column will be under the banner - "Star Trek Spotlight."