SOAPnet.com Relaunches
Web Site Features Content Tied to Shows Other than Disney-ABC TV Group-Owned Linear Cable Network
By Anne Becker -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/21/2008 11:54:00 AM
Disney-ABC TV Group relaunched itsSOAPnet.com Web site to more prominently feature content tied to shows other than daytime dramas.
The move comes as the company is expanding the content on linear cable channel SOAPnet to include more acquired primetime soaps and movies, as well as original series.
SOAPnet.com now includes features on red-carpet fashion, entertainment news and features and video on shows not even in the Disney-ABC family, such as MTV’s The Hills and NBC’s Heroes. It previously served as an online companion for the linear TV channel, with its content tied largely to the network’s shows.
With its relaunch, Disney-ABC said it united some 45 partners with content similar to SOAPnet.com’s to share content and advertising opportunities through an effort labeled the “SOAPnet Premium Publisher Network.”
Under Disney-ABC TV daytime chief Brian Frons -- who oversees the broadcast daytime shows, SOAPnet and the Buena Vista studio -- SOAPnet has expanded in the past years beyond its origins as a channel for same-day reruns of the ABC soaps.
The channel recently acquired a new package of feature films for its Sunday-night movie franchise and announced plans for two new originals: Relative Madness, six hour-long summer specials on over-the-top celebrities; and MVP: The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives (working title), a series about the romantic relationships of the members of a fictional ice-hockey team.
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