Three years after the series premiere on CBS All Access in September 2017, Star Trek: Discovery is making its American broadcast television debut on the CBS broadcast network this fall for the very first time.

While the show’s first hour — “The Vulcan Hello” — did air on CBS’s broadcast channel back in 2017 when the series premiered, the remaining 14 episodes of Season 1 have remained exclusively aboard the CBS All Access streaming service for American viewers (and of course on Blu-ray and DVD), but today the network announced that the sixth live-action Star Trek series will beam to viewers over-the-air broadcast starting Thursday, September 24 at 10PM ET/PT.

While Discovery has been airing on the CTV Sci Fi Channel in Canada since 2017 — and became available on the UK’s Channel 4 in December 2019 — this is the first time that the show has been released in a free-to-watch presentation to date.

CBS’s own announcement today hints heavily to the reason for Discovery’s broadcast debut: as the coronavirus pandemic has slowed or outright halted production on the fall’s expected slate of programming, Discovery makes an easy-to-repackage set of weekly content to fill that empty 10PM timeslot.

CBS announced today a slate of upcoming program premieres for September and October. The series include a mix of original news and alternative programming, and two scripted dramas and one comedy series making their broadcast network debuts.

“This is hardly a traditional fall season, but we are prepared with a strong slate of original content while our regular scripted series begin production,” said Kelly Kahl, President, CBS Entertainment. “Based on our current timeline, we hope to start rolling out our previously announced fall series as they become available in November.”

The show will air in weekly releases throughout the fall, beginning with “The Vulcan Hello” on September 24 and running through the final episode of the season, “Will You Take My Hand”. CBS tells us that at this time, there is not an expectation for Season 2 to follow.

As for edits to the original episodes, they are likely for both certain content and the running time. The same thing happened with The Good Fight when it aired on CBS’s broadcast network last year.

Meanwhile, the first-run airing of Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 is slated to begin on October 15, exclusively on CBS All Access (USA), CTV Sci Fi Channel (Canada), and Netflix (other global regions).

Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 Blu-ray

Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 Blu-ray

Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Blu-ray