FX Canada drops AMC/OLTL!?!?!?

[Chris B]

This mess with FX Canada shows how poorly thought out this move was. I just hope that Prospect Park uses this as a lesson learned and they stop making these silly mistakes. In hopes that somebody in the know see's it, I will keep calling for a proper PR team to help them out. The problem isn't even going to two episodes, but the way they released this info just created such a negative spin on things. They now will have to work overdrive to get people to think positively about their soaps. They better hope and pray they can announce Susan Lucci's return or something like that soon.

[DavidsMuse]

I think FX Canada was just a pawn used to push fans toward buying the shows from iTunes, since Hulu isn't a legal Canadian alternative. IOW, they know what they're doing and don't care!

[EricMontreal22]

Well it seems a poor way to do it--a good number of FXCanada viewers would have zero idea that it was now on iTunes Canada (besides which it can't be a coincidence that it happened just as the show was downgraded to two episodes.)

[Chris B]

Also, having a network deal is GUARANTEED money! They don't have to worry about *if* fans will purchase on iTunes, something many might not even know about. The international goal should be to have these shows on tv, not online. I know in the US there is a clear market, but internationally they need to be trying to get these shows on tv. I could easily see one of the UK channels attempting to pair these shows with their collection of UK and Aussie soaps. And Austrlia has a history with the US soaps and also previously aired AMC in recent years. I still say they are panicing too soon. They rushed the launch and rushed promo and shouldn't expect everything to fall into place immediately. Give it time! Hell, is there any soap that started off great in the ratings or quality wise? Typically they take time to grow in both ways.

[dragonflies]

They won't have a PR team. the actors like Cady, Kassie and others do PR for them and for FREE:

[EricMontreal22]

I'm not sure I agree, but it depends on the station setup. For most cable stations, daytime programming still works in blocks--whether it's a movie block or what. I still think FXCanada which seemed to have a (for them) expensive and prominent advertising campaign and littered their schedule (maybe too much) with repeats of AMC and OLTL it seems beyond bizarre not to just air a repeat of the other each day or something, but....

[Khan]

Same.

At the end of the day, TV networks in the U.S., whether cable or otherwise, operate on the principle of familiarity. If AMC or OLTL airs at a particular time on Monday afternoon, then viewers, out of habit, expect it to be there at the same time on Tuesday, on Wednesday, and so forth. Even a primetime series, a weekend afternoon series, or any series that airs once a week, gets a set time on the schedule (same-day repeats and second-look viewings later that same week notwithstanding) so that viewers know where and when to find them. Otherwise, if someone tunes in one day and watches the show, then tunes in the next and doesn't find it, they get confused and think the show has been removed from the network.

FXC could have given both AMC and OLTL a one-hour or ninety-minute (including "MORE") marathon toward the end of the week in a late night or even early primetime slot (if not on the weekends, as I had suggested upthread). For whatever reason, though, they didn't -- most likely, I suspect, they saw AMC and OLTL primarily as daytime shows, and they wanted more fixed programming during their daytime schedule. But in order to do anything else, I think, it would take re-training viewing habits, something that's been around for generations.

[All My Shadows]

I wasn't necessarily referring to a daytime timeslot. There are enough cable nets that rotate primetime programming, and just having an hour each of both shows instantly makes several networks more viable options for these shows than they were before. I don't want to randomly throw names out there, but easily Lifetime and Oxygen would make sense.

But really, now that I think about it, if these shows were to get TV deals in September (big IF), they'd have several months of back episodes -- I think someone already brought this up. So the current or then-current production rate wouldn't matter right away. By September, they'd have at least 50 episodes of each to strip weekdays. At some point, they'd catch up, but I feel like it wouldn't be hard to work the shows in somewhere.

[Vee]

The question is whether either Lifetime or Oxygen have the looser restrictions on language and content that FX does. It was clear they were re-tailoring their material to FX viewing - leaving in "[!@#$%^&*]" but cutting the F-bombs. I'd hate to see the overall content blanded out again.

[dragonflies]

A spokesperson for Prospect Park has elaborated on FX Canada cancelling airings of All My Children andOne Life to Live, following the production company's decision to cut their number of weekly episodes in half. Said the PR rep to ABC Soaps In Depth:

"The terms of the F/X Canada deal stipulated a five day run," a rep for Prospect Park told Soaps In Depth. "Now that the shows have been reduced, the agreement is no longer valid. However, the great news is that Canadian viewers can now access the shows via iTunes Canada."

http://daytimeconfidential.zap2it.com/2013/05/20/prospect-park-on-fx-canada-cutting-all-my-children-and-one-life-to-live-the-agreement-is-

[Khan]

I had suspected that that was the reason. Thanks, dragonflies.

[dragonflies]

It's all like "they did their thing but you still have to shell out $20 extra bucks a month two watch shows" lol

[Khan]

My sympathies to anyone in Canada who upgraded their cable in order to get FXC and now have to pay $20 at a time in addition to their increased cable bill.

[dragonflies]

I was reading a post elsewhere from someone in CA who had to pay an extra $100 to upgrade that included the package that had FX Canada, recordable equipment and a dish that was newer(the one they had was older)

I feel bad for them

Guess AMC is still NOT on itunes Canada as of yet either

[John]

Yeah and a poster on DC kept telling me that FX Canada doesnt cost extra dor viewer. Oh yes it does.