Soap net dies to make room for Disney Preschool

[jenlynn0808]

This is sort of bittersweet for me. I watch Soap net, but I have more then once said (and on the Dis boards) that Disney was missing the boat by not having a 24 hr preschool channel like Sprout and Nick Jr. Guess the powers to be have been listening after all.

http://sn.soapnet.go.com/news/article/soapnet-going-air-january-2012?cid=facebooksoapnet

 

[happygirl]

This is sort of bittersweet for me. I watch Soap net, but I have more then once said (and on the Dis boards) that Disney was missing the boat by not having a 24 hr preschool channel like Sprout and Nick Jr. Guess the powers to be have been listening after all.

http://sn.soapnet.go.com/news/article/soapnet-going-air-january-2012?cid=facebooksoapnet

I think they will make my kids happy

 

[Brit17]

I'll miss SoapNet ...

 

[ChristaDeVil]

I agree. I think the Disney Preschool is a great idea, but I'll miss my re-runs of Y&R and the Gilmore Girls & 90210 marathons.

 

[maelstrom]

But then how will I watch Being Erica?

 

[KristaTX]

Boo! I don't watch it often, but I occasionally will watch "All My Children" or "Beverly Hills 90210" (if its even still on - I guess my sporadic viewing obviously makes me part of the problem).

I sure wish it was a true "Classic" Disney channel they were coming out with like we've all wanted forever and ever - one that shows old Disney stuff from the '30s-'70s. But another channel for kids?? I'll be hiding that channel for sure, along with the other gazillion children's channels that U-verse offers.

 

[NC State]

I sure wish it was a true "Classic" Disney channel they were coming out with like we've all wanted forever and ever - one that shows old Disney stuff from the '30s-'70s. But another channel for kids?? I'll be hiding that channel for sure, along with the other gazillion children's channels that U-verse offers.

I do like the SoapNet but I wish it was a new "Classic" Disney channel. They already have children's shows on all the Disney stations now.

 

[bicker]

One of the interesting things about this moves is that it eliminates the only Disney cable channel that was not directed mostly at families with children. NBC has USA and Syfy, etc. CBS is owned by the same company that owns Spike (not to mention Showtime). Fox has FX. Time Warner has TNT and TBS (not to mention HBO). Disney, itself, won't have any such outlet anymore, after this conversion. (A&E and Lifetime are jointly owned with NBC.)

This potential impact of this is evident from an example from NBC, where L&O: Criminal Intent was picked-up on USA after running on NBC for many years. It is becoming more obvious that the future of television involves a lot of movement towards cable networks being the focus rather than just the broadcast networks.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

Adios OC reruns.

 

[bicker]

I wouldn't say that... Why wouldn't they simply relocate to ABC Family?

As it is, we're talking a couple of years away, so the OC reruns would perhaps have run their course on SoapNET already anyway.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

Where would the various non-soap repeats land? I'm thinking mainly OC (very good point bicker), Gilmore Girls and OTH (I know Being Erica is an orignal).

 

[WoodDisney]

Add me to the excited ones for the New Disney Pre School. I liked Soap net but I think the Soaps are goona be gone soon. They have cancelled so many.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

Personally, I really don't care. I never liked soaps much and stopped watching them so long ago.

But, I really wish that Disney would do a channel devoted to all their classic stuff. The movies, the shorts, the shows and the made for tv films. Anything and everything from before 1990 would be nice. Especially some of the more obscure programs.

 

[bicker]

I think, though, that with the exception of shopping channels and channels aimed at children, the age of the niche-interest channel is over. There is simply not enough money to be made having a channel that is just one thing all day long. Spike TV started out as The Nashville Network and was very deeply programmed to appeal to that specific niche interest. Now, it is "television for men" (and yet 45% of its audience is women) so while it is still a niche-interest channel, the niche represents about half of the population! A&E started as Arts and Entertainment; it and Bravo both started out seriously aiming at the heady entertainment engenderd by PBS' Masterpiece (Theater). Now both networks are a bastian of unscripted programming, like Dog the Bounty Hunter and The Real Housewives. Syfy clearly started out as a science fiction channel, and then expanded to include fantasy, then horror, then anything that qualified as "imagination", and finally now includes some wrestling programming. These changes are often referred to, by rabid fanatics of the applicable niches, as bad turns of event, but the reality is that this consistent watering down of niche-interest in cable networks is practically always a big win for the networks. (Wrestling is actually one of the most-watched shows on Syfy.)

To be fair, "soaps" is a pretty broad niche, sort of like "television for men".

"Classic Disney", however, is a pretty narrow niche, by comparison. While here on the DIS boards it looks like it could be a majority perspective, I would guess that even among people who label themselves as Disney fans, you'd not get more than a small percentage saying that they'd select a higher programming tier with their cable or satellite service provider because it provided a "Classic Disney" channel.

 

[jenlynn0808]

Like I said, mixed feelings. I'm a GH fan, but lately the stories are so-so, and honestly I can not watch for months on end and catch an episode and know exactly what is going on. When I was working, I'd keep up with it on Soapnet, but now that I'm not working, don't watch it as much really. Hate to see it go, but unfortunately I have to agree with a PP, I think daytime soaps are about to disappear.

On the flip side, DS4 would watch Playhouse Disney all day. I'm going to give a bit of information here, so people don't think I let my child sit around all day watching tv. When DS was 2, he had a severe femur fraction that required a spica cast (he was casted from his mid chest down to his toes). He could do absolutely nothing, tv became a big part of his day. We did do other things with him, but when I was making dinner and DD was doing homework he watched tv, he couldn't move, he was pretty much isolated in what he could do.

Keeping that in mind...at the time he was a huge Playhouse Disney kid. Once it went off at 11, we would switch it over to Sprout. All day we would hear him ask for Jo-Jo, Higglytown, Manny, MM Clubhouse, Wiggles, etc. That's what got me thinking that Disney needed the all day Preschool channel. Not only that, but there are some good programs that they don't even run anymore Bear in the Big Blue House, PB&J Otter (?), Jo-Jo, and Higglytown are now included in that list. This will come to late for my little guy as he will be 7 in 2012.

It probably comes down to profit margin. Soaps, in general, are costing more to make and earning less revenues, otherwise we wouldn't be seeing so many disappear, IMO. Kid shows cost less to produce and toy makers are going to pay to have their commercials run on those channels. JMHO

 

[KristaTX]

"Classic Disney", however, is a pretty narrow niche, by comparison. While here on the DIS boards it looks like it could be a majority perspective, I would guess that even among people who label themselves as Disney fans, you'd not get more than a small percentage saying that they'd select a higher programming tier with their cable or satellite service provider because it provided a "Classic Disney" channel.

That's true. The only channel that I ever upped my tier for was TCM.

What would be a brilliant idea is to do something like Nickelodeon used to do with Nick at Nite. They could do toddler programming all day, and do Classic Disney at night . What do all the Disney and young children's channels show at night anyway? Infomercials? I never tune into them, day or night. We get a bunch of them, but I have them all turned off.

 

[bicker]

Don't underestimate how much money infomercials bring in.

 

[KristaTX]

I don't . Sheesh. Can't people wish for something and talk about how "nice it would be if. . ." without someone immediately displaying their "expertise" by pointing out the obvious? I think we all know that money is the real issue. There's no need to always be a spoil-sport.

 

[Jazzybell]

Where would the various non-soap repeats land? I'm thinking mainly OC (very good point bicker), Gilmore Girls and OTH (I know Being Erica is an orignal).

Gilmore Girls is shown on ABC Family at 5pm (and sometime during the day... 1pm?).

I don't watch soaps anymore... used to watch GH, but got tired of it. I miss the days of Ned and Lois, Brenda, etc. I do think that SoapNet serves a purpose, however. Do preschoolers really need a channel at night?

 

[FireDancer]

Isn't SoapNET basically showing syndicated re-runs for the most part? I imagine that if they are being watched by a substantial amount of people they will be picked up by someone out there. I have almost 300 channels they make me buy to get the 20 I want so I'm sure there will be a home for them somewhere.

2012 is also a long way away as far as technology goes so perhaps by then there will be a way to just watch them on demand when you want somewhere.