SkyShowtime has announced the launch of a new dedicated television channel to mark the 60th anniversary of the first Star Trek episode.
The new station, named Star Trek Movies, will broadcast 13 feature films from the long running science fiction franchise.
The anniversary of the first episode falls on Tuesday, September 8.
The film channel will run from the first cinematic outing, 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture, to the 2016 release Star Trek Beyond.
Streaming channels
The launch brings SkyShowtime's total number of dedicated Star Trek channels to three. Star Trek Movies joins a general Star Trek channel and a station dedicated to Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
The streaming service also operates Supernatural, a channel dedicated to science fiction and fantasy programming.
The platform's on demand catalogue already carries multiple television series from both the classic and modern eras of the franchise.
Subscribers have access to Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Prodigy and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Short Treks arrival
SkyShowtime will expand its on demand library with the first two seasons of Star Trek: Short Treks on November 18.
The anthology series of short films explores the backstories of characters from the wider universe. The episodes feature established characters including Captain Saru, played by Doug Jones, and Officer Sylvia Tilly, played by Mary Wiseman.
The platform said the addition was one of the most requested by fans of the franchise.
Sixty years in space
Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek in the 1960s, pitching it as a western in space. The original television series followed the crew of the USS Enterprise as they explored the galaxy, seeking out new life and new civilisations.
The original 1966 series starred William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as the half Vulcan science officer Spock. The series was cancelled after three seasons but found a massive audience in syndication during the 1970s.
The success of the reruns led to the production of Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979, which reunited the original cast. The cinematic success spawned five direct sequels featuring the original Enterprise crew.
Franchise expansion
In 1987, the television franchise returned with Star Trek: The Next Generation, set a century after the original series and starring Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean Luc Picard. That series ran for seven seasons and led to its own run of four feature films, which concluded in 2002.
The franchise expanded throughout the 1990s with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager running concurrently with the later seasons of The Next Generation and its subsequent films. Star Trek: Enterprise followed in 2001, serving as a prequel to the original series.
Following the cancellation of Enterprise in 2005, the franchise lay dormant on television until the launch of Star Trek: Discovery in 2017. Discovery inaugurated the modern era of the franchise, which has since seen the launch of multiple animated and live action series on streaming platforms.
The cinematic universe was rebooted in 2009 with a film directed by J.J. Abrams, which introduced a new cast playing the original characters in an alternate timeline. The reboot film was followed by Star Trek Into Darkness in 2013 and Star Trek Beyond in 2016, both of which will be available on the new SkyShowtime channel.
