‘Discovery’ helping CBS to counter cord- cutting trend

Count me among the early skeptics.

I wasn’t so sure that “Star Trek: Discovery,” as a streaming show, would even secure a two-year mission.

Granted, the franchise’s fan base is loyal, following the tales from the bridge through a half-century of screen iterations. Yet it still seemed a tall order that a new version could genuinely thrive without a broadcast platform — at least enough to satisfy a huge broadcast titan such as CBS.

In the early stages, “Star Trek: Discovery” is proving us skeptics wrong.

The new series, which launched late last month, has already been renewed for a second season. CBS All Access announced that development this week — after a halfdozen episodes sparked subscriber growth, Marc DeBevoise, head of CBS Interactive, said in a statement.

What was less surprising is how well “Discovery” would do on broadcast television. The series debut last month drew a solid 9.6 million viewers and, notably, a 1.9 rating among prized adult viewers younger than 50.

CBS’ multipronged approach paid off: “Discovery” set the single-day record for sign-ups to its streaming subscription service, besting its tally from its Grammy Awards digital offering in February, the network said.

Yet there are two caveats to this week’s announcement.

First, CBS All Access — as with other streaming services — offers no specific ratings and sign-up numbers, so there are no hard stats for comparison’s sake. “Records” in the streaming world are still a relatively gauzy metric.

Second, CBS All Access has clearly invested heavily in the look and promotion of “Discovery,” so a second-season pickup was to be expected.

“Discovery,” which is set a decade ahead of the original series, concludes its first halfseason Nov. 12 (each new episode lands at 8:30 p.m. Sunday), and is scheduled to return in January.

It’s received mixed to positive reviews, but must now hold viewers over the long haul.

Then again, CBS All Access (which launched in 2014) is committed to staying ahead of the industrywide cordcutting trend, having poured as much as $120 million into the maiden 15-episode season of “Discovery,” according to Bloomberg.

At that rarefied price tag for a streaming series, the truer logic just might be: “Discovery” is too big to fail.