The United Paramount Network, UPN — which launched 11 years ago with the premiere of Star Trek: Voyager and was also home to Star Trek: Enterprise — will cease to exist later this year as it merges with The WB to form a new network, called "The CW."

The announcement — which caught the business world by surprise — was made this morning by executives of CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. Entertainment, which each will own 50% of the joint venture.

"This new network will serve the public with high-quality programming and maintain our ongoing commitment to our diverse audience," said Leslie Moonves, chief executive of CBS. "It will clearly be greater than the sum of its parts."

The CW Television Network will combine the programming of UPN and WB, including Smallville, Supernatural, Veronica Mars, Everybody Hates Chris, WWE Smackdown, etc. The new fifth network will launch in the fall of 2006, and will be carried on Tribune Broadcasting stations — such as WGN in Chicago, WPIX in New York, and KTLA in Los Angeles — along with selected other UPN and WB affiliates.

More coverage of this story — including video of Moonves' announcement — can be found at this CBSNews.com link, as well as other news sources. The formal press release can be found at CBSCorporation.com.

This development is separate from the formation of CBS Paramount Television, reported last week (related story). In a nutshell, CBS Paramount Television is a content producer and provider (including Paramount's entire television library), whereas The CW will be a content distributor. Whether any future Star Trek series developed by CBS Paramount Television would air on The CW is a matter of conjecture at this point.

Masterson to Co-Star in Film Noir/Sci-Fi Project

Chase Masterson, "Leeta" in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, has been cast in a new independent film described as a "film noir" piece with elements of science fiction and science fact. "Yesterday Was a Lie" is a detective thriller that incorporates discussions of quantum mechanics and other reality-bending topics in its mystery tale.

In fact, the movie's lead, Kipleigh Brown, is a Trek alumnus herself. Brown appeared in the Enterprise third-season episode "The Forgotten" as "Jane Taylor," the deceased crew member whom Trip Tucker talks to in a dream.

In "Yesterday" Brown plays "Hoyle," the protagonist who "uncovers a plot to unravel earth-shattering cosmological secrets, smuggled out of 1930s Germany by a Nazi defector," according to the synopsis. Masterson plays a "glamorous lounge singer" who assists Hoyle in the investigation.

Principal photography begins soon. Distribution arrangements are pending. A teaser trailer can be found at the movie's official site, www.YesterdayWasALie.com.

In a blog on the site, Brown praises the addition of Masterson to the cast. "The moment Chase walked through the door and read for us, something almost palpable clicked into place. She has the passion, the heart and the soul so crucial to this project... not to mention the incredible intellect, talent and beauty," she writes.

Shatner Presenting at SAG Awards

As a reminder, the 12th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards — with several Star Trek names in contention — will be handed out this Sunday, January 29. William Shatner is a nominee for his role in Boston Legal, but he is also one of the presenters. Christopher Plummer ("General Chang") is also vying for a major award on behalf of his cable movie "Our Fathers."

The SAG Awards ceremony will air simultaneously on TBS and TNT Sunday evening (live except on the West Coast). The two-hour broadcast begins at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, 7 p.m. CT and 6 p.m. MT. But please check your local listings. (Tivo users: the program may be listed as "12th Annual...") TNT is scheduled to immediately rerun the show the same night.

Other Trek veterans nominated in ensemble categories include Rene Auberjonois, Teri Hatcher, Alfre Woodard, Steven Culp, Frank Langella, Daniel Dae Kim, James Cromwell, Joanna Cassidy, and several others (related story).

Science Brief: Extragalactic Mystery

Turning from showbiz to science, two galaxies which are part of Star Trek lore made news together recently. Swiss scientists using the Hubble Telescope have discovered that the Andromeda Galaxy — home of the Kelvans per "By Any Other Name" — is surrounded by numerous satellite "dwarf" galaxies. What's unusual about it, though, is that these satellite galaxies are aligned along a single plane that runs perpendicularly through the center of the Andromeda spiral disk. Scientists are at a loss to explain that alignment.

One speculation involves the neighboring spiral galaxy M33 — which was visited by the Enterprise-D in "Where No One Has Gone Before." The plane containing Andromeda's satellite galaxies points toward two massive objects: M33, which is located 720,000 light-years from Andromeda, and M81, a galactic cluster located 11 million light-years in the opposite direction. It's possible that the lined-up satellite galaxies are actually embedded in a stream of hypothetical "dark matter" flowing between those two objects.

Read the full story at this Space.com page.