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The Story's Over: SoapNet to fade into Cable TV history in 2012

FilmCritic3K said:
Disney Junior to replace SoapNET in 2012

Anne Sweeney, president of the Disney/ABC Television Group, addressed the decision to drop SOAPnet. "The decision to ultimately transition SOAPnet to accomplish this was not arrived at lightly," she said. "SOAPnet was created in 2000 to give daytime viewers the ability to watch time-shifted soaps, before multiplatform viewing and DVRs were part of our vocabulary. But today, as technology and our businesses evolve, it makes more sense to align this distribution with a preschool channel that builds on the core strengths of our company."
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People on this board have been stating (for a long time) that the soaps are slowly dying. It's just a matter of time until the soaps are gone from the broadcast networks. There's no better time than now to drop them.
 
Actually, DCRTV.com reports that the new network will be called "Playhouse Disney." (Not to be confused with "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse," one of The Disney Channel's more popular shows of late...)
 
Would running the older soaps like Dallas and Falcon Crest not help them out? When nearly every home as a DVR now, it's kinda useless to rerun programming from earlier in the week.

And exactly how many channels does Disney need?
 
Bengalsfan said:
And exactly how many channels does Disney need?
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I don't know, but the "Playhouse Disney" theme is a definite winner for Disney. I am surprised that they didn't do it sooner. Such a channel would certainly compete toe to toe with the likes of Nick Jr and Sprout and may even outdraw them for little viewers. Never underestimate the draw that Disney characters/themes have on little kids and, as a result, on their parents.

This is a brilliant idea that will do much better for Disney than a teen-oriented channel.
 
SOAPnet had "Another World" on a regular basis and older episodes "Days of Our Lives" on one occasion. I was thinking the network was going to have "Dark Shadows" someday, but now there is no chance of that happening. The best purpose for having a cable channel dedicated to serials would be to showcase serials of the past and possibly new serials.
 
Consider how many cable systems on which SoapNet is already cleared on a basic tier, as opposed to, say, a digital tier. Depending on how many households Nick Jr. is already in by 2012, it would definitely give Disney an audience boost to compete with them. Otherwise, it might serve them better to move one of their other networks to SoapNet's position, with the new Playhouse Disney filling the void.
 
Bengalsfan said:
Would running the older soaps like Dallas and Falcon Crest not help them out? When nearly every home as a DVR now, it's kinda useless to rerun programming from earlier in the week.

And exactly how many channels does Disney need?
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I don't remember if they ever carried Falcon Crest, but up until two years ago, they did air Dallas reruns right through the finale to finish out its contract.
 
I don't know why they're waiting so long to make the change. Almost 2 years seems like a long time to transition. I'd think going for the change either in the Fall or New Year would make more sense. Or is it possible that Disney is announcing this so far in advance so that if there is enough negative reaction that they can come up with some alternative, perhaps like moving the soap reruns to one of the Lifetime channels?
 
I'm guessing one or more of the soaps had contracts with SoapNet through their closing date.

As for DVR's, not so fast. I'm thinking the average income bracket for today's soaper hasnt kept up with a 'dvr' crowd, unless the cable or dish network throws it in for free.

Working women of more means are too busy working and furthering their careers, and generally would rather 'live' the drama than watch it.

Watching it on the networks website? Yeah..a little more practical for mr and mrs middle class.
 
When videotape machines first came out,the blank tapes were very expensive and some television networks used to tape over old episodes of soaps and other daytime and some nightime shows. thats why you seldom see old reruns of soaps from the 60's and 70's before home taping became popular. These show simply don't exist unless there is an old kinescope film copy floating around that some televison station without a videotape machine used to air at a different time. Dark shadows is an exception most of the tapes of that show were saved by the producers, with the exception of a few episodes which were found on old film copies that were sent out to stations that didn't have a video recorder. Much of the old game shows, soaps and daytime talk shows and nearly all of the old Tonight Show reruns of the 60's are gone forever because of tapes being erased. Lost shows would not likey happen today because of all the home taping.
 
anotherguy said:
I don't know why they're waiting so long to make the change. Almost 2 years seems like a long time to transition. I'd think going for the change either in the Fall or New Year would make more sense. Or is it possible that Disney is announcing this so far in advance so that if there is enough negative reaction that they can come up with some alternative, perhaps like moving the soap reruns to one of the Lifetime channels?
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Although what Studio 20 said is likely true, I still echo this question. Honestly, the "Playhouse Disney" concept is a virtual gold mine waiting to be tapped. Soap Net, on the other hand, is a low-rated channel with very old demos. The faster they can blow it out and gear up the new Disney kids' format, the better off they'll be. 2012? That's too long - they should instead get aggressive and aim for 1/1/11 as an on-air date.

Honestly, if Disney programs this in the way that I expect them to do, this channel has the potential to do VERY well. Never underestimate the draw of Mickey Mouse on little kids and parents' temptation to use the TV as a babysitter (even if its only for a short time).
 
Studio20 said:
I'm thinking the average income bracket for today's soaper hasnt kept up with a 'dvr' crowd, unless the cable or dish network throws it in for free...
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I guess it's fair to argue that, much like the DVR has helped to kill brick-and-mortar video rental chains (Netflix gets the upper hand in that), they can also claim a 24-hour soap opera cable network as one of its "kills".
 
DToTheJ said:
Studio20 said:
I'm thinking the average income bracket for today's soaper hasnt kept up with a 'dvr' crowd, unless the cable or dish network throws it in for free...
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I guess it's fair to argue that, much like the DVR has helped to kill brick-and-mortar video rental chains (Netflix gets the upper hand in that), they can also claim a 24-hour soap opera cable network as one of its "kills".
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Video stores on the decline
 
anotherguy said:
I don't know why they're waiting so long to make the change. Almost 2 years seems like a long time to transition. I'd think going for the change either in the Fall or New Year would make more sense. Or is it possible that Disney is announcing this so far in advance so that if there is enough negative reaction that they can come up with some alternative, perhaps like moving the soap reruns to one of the Lifetime channels?
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If Disney thought there was that much greater value in soap reruns they'd have killed off Lifetime or Lifetime Movie Network to make room for the new Disney channel. It isn't about a backup plan for General Hospotal when--inevitably--some folks get ticked that SoapNet is going away. (And let's be realistic--this isn't going to get much attention in "consumer" media. The die-hard soapsters who read the magazines and frequent those forums? Sure. But that's a subset of a subset.)

Disney has a luxury here, with the time to use an established entity to incubate a new brand/channel before it stands on its own. Really, it's business 101, and not that hard to figure out.
 
Bengalsfan said:
Would running the older soaps like Dallas and Falcon Crest not help them out? When nearly every home as a DVR now, it's kinda useless to rerun programming from earlier in the week.
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I think most of us tend to believe that we all have a lot of technology, but most U.S. homes don't have DVRs. I did a quick search and found a report from September 2009 saying 36% of homes have at least 1 DVR. If you give it another 10% it still would be half of U.S. households.

I have SoapNet on Cox Cable in Phoenix. It's a part of their digital tier. I wonder how many get the digital tier/variety package that carries SoapNet?
 
imhomerjay said:
anotherguy said:
I don't know why they're waiting so long to make the change. Almost 2 years seems like a long time to transition. I'd think going for the change either in the Fall or New Year would make more sense. Or is it possible that Disney is announcing this so far in advance so that if there is enough negative reaction that they can come up with some alternative, perhaps like moving the soap reruns to one of the Lifetime channels?
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If Disney thought there was that much greater value in soap reruns they'd have killed off Lifetime or Lifetime Movie Network to make room for the new Disney channel. It isn't about a backup plan for General Hospotal when--inevitably--some folks get ticked that SoapNet is going away. (And let's be realistic--this isn't going to get much attention in "consumer" media. The die-hard soapsters who read the magazines and frequent those forums? Sure. But that's a subset of a subset.)

Disney has a luxury here, with the time to use an established entity to incubate a new brand/channel before it stands on its own. Really, it's business 101, and not that hard to figure out.
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Lifetime is owned by A&E, which is owned by Hearst, Disney-ABC and NBC. Disney can't just easily do changing (or killing off) of Lifetime or Lifetime Movie Network.

They likely could move the rebroadcast of the ABC soaps, or some of the non soaps like The O.C. reruns, to ABC Family.
 
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