Prospect Park Sues ABC Over ‘One Life To Live’ & ‘All My Children’ Licensing Agreement

[~bl~]

If ABC wasn't willing to air the ads for OLTL due to Howarth well that is something that PP could sue about. There was a media case years ago how SOD didn't want to include an ad from Soap Opera Now (the famous soap newsletter)...and in court SOD lost and had to run it even if they were a competing publication.

Glad to hear that the URLs are no longer pointing to ABC.com, that was one item I can understand PP being upset about as that was ridiculous.

[EricMontreal22]

But the lawsuit says that PP *did* have to be consulted, and weren't. As I said before, it seems a mess in that respect too--COle and Hope were killed over a year back when PP seemed the most dead. Who would they have consulted? And if they had consulted anyway what would the answer have been? Was anyone creatively involved with soaps on the PP team? (I assume the execs prob still would have thought it was a bad idea to kill a character they had rights to--even if they had no knowledge of who that character was, but...)

[Vee]

The issue is, if someone leaves the negotiating table, then and only then often the other party will start bringing out all the grievances as opposed to letting them lie.

That's happened in more cases than this one.

GH's original exits for the 3 were, I believe, John and Sam and Todd and Carly make love, then the 3 are all called away by a natural disaster in Llanview. No indication of a permanent exit and a catalyzing event in Llanview proper - I can see why PP shut those down. It's basically GH pissing all over the turf.

[ChitHappens]

They probably did it to gain some kind of favor with PP. At the time, they were more than likely keeping Todd on GH. Now that this is not the case, depending on the language in the contract, ABC may be forced to air the promos or lose major bucks.

[Vee]

It's a fair question, and probably part of the issue. I suspect neither side was very active in communication at that point. But if PP did in fact have refusal rights and were glossed over, that's that.

I had a feeling ABC would throw a tantrum about Todd debuting on OLTL weeks before Roger returns to GH onscreen.

[acbuddy3]

To me, both companies did something wrong:

ABC messed up by:

- Giving ME and KA 3-year contracts, even though they only had John and Starr for a year (PP is/was under no obligation to renew that lease)

- Apparently not consulting PP on OLTL characters' storylines (if it was in the contract)

- Connecting Tomas to Alcazar (Tomas is not one of the seven OLTL characters that were leased back to ABC, RC/FV had no right to mess with that character, that would be like RC/FV trying to connect Lucky Spencer to Eric Brady on Days)

- Not turning over the URLs to PP even though PP paid for them (what use does ABC have for them?)

- Not running the OLTL ads that PP paid ABC to run (I can understand this one a bit so that viewers are not confused by RH)

PP messed up by:

- Not raising hell sooner/basically allowing ABC/RC/FV to run rampant

ABC wants PP OLTL to fail because RC gets his favorites back, ABC gets control of OLTL back, and wouldn't it have been embarassing if OLTL did better online than on ABC?

Disney has been on PP's side, because if PP succeeds, they are making money without doing anything. Disney will probably still license GH to PP when ABC cancels it so they can continue to make money off of it.

[CCCapwell]

What would benefit PP if they sued ABC 14 months ago as you and others seem to be holding against them that they didn't speak up sooner???

And how do you know something wasn't said between PP and ABC?

If ABC was playing games all along, PP was smart to keep giving them more and more rope to hang themselves by waiting to file a lawsuit.

[EricMontreal22]

This is a legal case, they wouldn't claim something they couldn't back up with the original papers.

[allmc2008]

regardless it is the same damn thing. The Sun is a location from OLTL so The Sun is OLTL/PP Property

[Khan]

Same.

[EricMontreal22]

Because they were obviously asleep at the wheel. And ABC apparently didn't bother to go out of their way to ask as they agreed to do. None of this negates or prove that it's not in the original agreement.

[Vee]

I think in the end it is business and will be settled. And someday, if these shows work out, GH will still go to PP. I just wish it would be settled sooner.

I think GH has tried every underhanded trick in the book to not have to negotiate according to the terms of their original agreement or give up their ego's share of OLTL - from gossip to bloggers to dragging their feet on petty [!@#$%^&*] like websites - and I think they're every bit as petty as PP. I just am tired of watching everyone be petty. They both lost. They both still need to learn to coexist. And apparently at least one party has a problem with not having Todd.

[ChitHappens]

I read about the 3 endings as well, and the characters didn't need to copulate. The fact is, they were very much in love when they left. I would have said "resurrect Cope" as the ending to Starr. If PP had some influence, they sure didn't use it wisely.

[Vee]

Whether or not they were all deeply in love, in the material that aired they ended it - which they apparently did not do in the original versions. Those, as well as the need to latch John and Starr further to the show in the final weeks, read to me like a love letter from Ron and GH to himself and those characters. "We're parted for now..."

[Mr. Vixen]

All I have to say is that, if this thing actually makes it to a courtroom, I hope Karen Wolek takes the stand.