Star Trek fans have likely heard of some disparity between the movie and TV branches that kept the franchise off regular TV in recent years, seemingly broken by CBS All-Access’ 2017 launch of a new Bryan Fuller series. That said, the two were apparently required to keep six months’ distance, which could spell a questionable future for the film franchise.

Following his suggestion of upcoming renewals, CBS boss Les Moonves opened up (via TrekCore) at the Deutsche Bank Media, Internet & Telecom Conference to reveal some of the disparity between Paramount, Viacom and CBS. Even after agreeing to a new series, CBS was required to wait six months from the launch of Star Trek Beyond:

When [CBS] split from Viacom ten years ago, January 1, 2006, one of the big sticking points, as you can imagine, was “Star Trek.” You know, we both wanted it.

They said “It’s a movie!” and I said, “No, no, no, it’s a TV show.” Actually, we’re both right. So they kept the feature film rights, we kept the television rights; they have ["Star Trek Beyond"] coming out July 22.

Our deal with them is that we had to wait six months after their film is launched so there wouldn’t be a confusion in the marketplace.

Hannibal and American Gods showrunner Fuller will headline the new streaming iteration of Star Trek as co-creator and executive producer, while the series looks to chart its own course with new characters and adventures independent of the core franchise. So reads the initial synopsis for the series, which debuts on CBS in January 2017 before moving to All-Access:

The brand-new “Star Trek” will introduce new characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations, while exploring the dramatic contemporary themes that have been a signature of the franchise since its inception in 1966.

Fellow producer Alex Kurtzman wrote both the 2009 Star Trek reboot and its 2013 sequel with frequent partner Roberto Orci, though Orci has no involvement in the new TV series. As expected, the new series will not have any ties to the upcoming Star Trek Beyond.

If both ends intend to separate the film and TV branches, what might that mean for the future of Star Trek movies after Beyond?

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