Editing Star Trek: The Next Generation (section)

===Syndication and profitability===
Despite ''Star Trek''{{'}}s proven success, NBC and ABC only offered to consider pilot scripts for the new series, and CBS offered to air a [[backdoor pilot|miniseries that could become a series]] if it did well. Paramount executives were offended that the [[Big Three television networks]] treated their most appealing and valuable property like any other series. [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] wanted the show to help launch the new network, but wanted it by March 1987, and would only commit to 13 episodes instead of a full season. The unsuccessful negotiations convinced the studio that it could only protect ''Star Trek'' with full control.{{r|harmetz19861102}}{{r|gendel19871011}}

Paramount increased and accelerated the show's profitability by choosing to instead broadcast it in [[first-run syndication]]<ref name="weinstein19880503">{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-05-03-ca-2130-story.html| title=Newest 'Star Trek' Zooms at Warp Speed : 'Next Generation' Series Scores With Viewers and Critics Alike | work=Los Angeles Times | date=May 3, 1988 | access-date=May 11, 2011 | last=Weinstein | first=Steve | archive-date=November 17, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117213136/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-05-03-ca-2130-story.html | url-status=live }}</ref>{{r|teitelbaum19910505}}{{r|pearson2011}}{{rp|123–124}} on [[Independent station (North America)|independent station]]s (whose numbers had more than tripled since 1980) and Big Three [[network affiliate]]s.{{r|harmetz19861102}} The studio offered the show to local stations for free as [[barter syndication]]. The stations sold five minutes of commercial time to local advertisers and Paramount sold the remaining seven minutes to national advertisers. Stations had to commit to purchasing reruns in the future,{{r|weinstein19880503}} and only those that aired the new show could purchase the popular reruns of the ''Original Series''.<ref name="davies2007">{{cite book | title=NBC: America's Network | chapter=The Little Program That Could: The Relationship Between NBC and ''Star Trek'' | publisher=University of California Press | last=Davies | first=Máire Messenger | author2=Roberta Pearson | editor=Hilmes, Michele | editor2=Henry, Michael Lowell | year=2007 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lhmw637JRgUC&pg=PA209 | isbn=978-0-520-25079-6 | access-date=February 19, 2016 | archive-date=July 4, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160704184438/https://books.google.com/books?id=lhmw637JRgUC&pg=PA209 | url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|222}}<ref>{{cite book|title=Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry|author=Alexander, David|publisher=Roc|year=1994|isbn=0-451-45440-5|url=https://archive.org/details/startrekcreator00davi}}</ref>

The studio's strategy succeeded. Most of the 150 stations airing reruns of the original ''Star Trek'' wanted to prevent a competitor from airing the new show; ultimately, 210 stations covering 90% of the United States became part of Paramount's informal nationwide network for ''TNG''.{{r|weinstein19880503}}{{r|harmetz19871004}} In early October 1987, more than 50 network affiliates pre-empted their own shows for the series pilot, "[[Encounter at Farpoint]]". One station predicted that "''Star Trek'' promises to be one of the most successful programs of the season, network or syndicated".{{r|harmetz19871004}} Special effects were by [[Industrial Light and Magic]], a Division of [[Lucasfilm]].<ref name="Nemecek2012">{{cite book |last1=Nemecek |first1=Larry |title=The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion |date=September 25, 2012 |publisher=Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster UK) |isbn=9781471106798 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VTifVpk6cekC&q=%22the+next+generation%22+%22industrial+light%22&pg=PT19 |access-date=November 17, 2020 |archive-date=November 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117213135/https://books.google.com/books?id=VTifVpk6cekC&q=%22the+next+generation%22+%22industrial+light%22&pg=PT19 |url-status=live }}</ref> The new show indeed performed well; the pilot's ratings were higher than those of many network programs,<ref name="harmetz19871004">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/04/arts/syndicated-star-trek-puts-dent-in-networks.html | title=Syndicated 'Star Trek' Puts Dent in Networks | work=The New York Times | date=October 4, 1987 | access-date=May 9, 2011 | author=Harmetz, Aljean | archive-date=November 13, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113141855/http://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/04/arts/syndicated-star-trek-puts-dent-in-networks.html | url-status=live }}</ref> and ratings remained comparable to network shows by the end of the first season, despite the handicap of each station airing the show on a different day and time, often outside prime time. By the end of the first season, Paramount reportedly received $1&nbsp;million for advertising per episode, more than the roughly $800,000 fee that networks typically paid for a one-hour show;{{r|weinstein19880503}} by 1992, when the budget for each episode had risen to almost $2&nbsp;million,{{r|cerone19921106}} the studio earned $90&nbsp;million from advertising annually from first-run episodes, with each 30-second commercial selling for $115,000 to $150,000.{{r|mcclellan19920217}}<ref name="cerone1992">{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-03-19-ca-12911-story.html |title=Syndication is going where the action ''was''. Mixing revivals of old TV hits with brand-new series, programmers are pinning hopes on a once-vibrant genre | work=Los Angeles Times | date=November 1, 1992 | access-date=January 26, 2022| author=Cerone, Daniel | archive-date=November 6, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106201835/http://articles.latimes.com/print/1992-11-01/entertainment/ca-1591_1_action-series}}</ref> The show had a 40% [[return on investment]] for Paramount, with $30 to $60&nbsp;million in annual upfront net profit for first-run episodes and another $70&nbsp;million for [[stripping (television)|stripping]] rights for each of the about 100 episodes then available, so they did not need overseas sales to be successful.<ref name=mcclellan19920217>{{cite news | title=HOUR DRAMA BOLDLY GOING TO FIRST-RUN | work=Broadcasting | date=February 17, 1992 | author=McClellan, Steve}}</ref>