{alltv} PROTEST PLANNED OUTSIDE ABC NETWORK UPFRONT PRESENTATION AT LINCOLN CENTER ON 17TH MAY 2011

Soap Fans United

www.soapfansunited.com

May 5, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PROTEST PLANNED OUTSIDE ABC NETWORK UPFRONT PRESENTATION AT LINCOLN CENTER ON 17TH MAY 2011

Viewers Rally to Save Daytime Dramas All My Children & One Life To Live

(New York) A demonstration protesting the cancellations of ABC Soaps All My Children and One Life To Live has been planned for the 17th of May outside Lincoln Center. The rally will be held from 2:00pm – 6:00pm to target the advertisers arriving at Avery Fisher Hall for ABC's Upfront Presentation at 4:00pm.

One such advertiser, Hoover, withdrew its sponsorship from ABC to support keeping the shows from being cancelled. The company understands that the brand recognition a soap opera brings is invaluable for business and "impossible to duplicate with new shows that are short-lived." (From attached Disney Save Our Soaps ad to be published in the upcoming May 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter)

A week after its cancellation was announced, One Life To Live was tied for 2nd place in household ratings with CBS to be ABC's top rated scripted daytime show. Its viewership shot up 200,000 from the previous week and is up half a million viewers from the same time last year. It is unheard of for a cancelled TV show to go up in numbers following the announcement of its cancellation.

ABC/Disney hastily killed their own shows without foresight to maximize them to their fullest potential. This, in turn, will effectively damage both ABC O&O stations along with the rest of the affiliates across the country. With both Oprah and Regis gone along with the soaps, an unproven ABC daytime schedule filled with cheap food and weight loss shows will negatively impact local news programming. Lower ratings mean lower profits.

ABC/Disney is eliminating the jobs of approximately 800 WGA, AFTRA, DGA, NABET-CWA and IATSE members. NYC will be hardest hit with the One Life To Live cancellation since it is the last remaining scripted daytime drama taped there. Extra income for starving TV and Broadway theatre actors will be gone. Especially with regards to the unions, these cancellations could have future repercussions for primetime television shows.

With the following steps to generate additional revenue stream the ABC soaps can be saved:

 

• Commission Nielsen to measure the daily soaps Live+5 days instead of Live+same day; most soap fans watch with their DVR's on the weekends and their true viewership will emerge.

• Use product placement from designer clothes to iPhones; to product tie-ins like books and specially packaged DVD sets. Currently, there is one ABC soap tie-in book on the NYT Bestseller's List.

• Package both shows together and syndicate them internationally; soaps overseas are more popular than ever and air in early prime daily.

• Make the shows available via On Demand on TV & smartphone apps.

• Make subscriptions available via iTunes, Netflix , Amazon and other streaming apps.

• Cable operators want SOAPnet to stay on the air for the female demographics alone; make SN, which re-runs the soaps, a premium cable channel.

Soap Fans United Protest Rally

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

2:00 pm – 6:00pm

Lincoln Center – 132 W 65th St & Columbus Ave

New York, NY 10023