According to ABC, “General Hospital” reached a six-week high in Total Viewers (2.79 million – since week of 2/18/13) and a five-week high in Women 18-49 (660,000/1.0 rating – since week of 2/25/13). The drama series also attracted its largest audience in Women 25-54 in more than a year-and-a-half (918,000/1.5 rating – since 9/26/11). On ABC.com, the anniversary week amassed 2.1 million page views, up by a massive 77% over the prior two weeks.

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Missed the “20/20” special dedicated to ABC’s “General Hospital“? ABCNews.com has uploaded the entire  thing (broken into segments) for your viewing pleasure! If you prefer watching the entire thing straight through, ABC.com also uploaded the entire episode.

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Apple, Inc.

On Wednesday, March 28, the Disney/ABC Television Group and Nielsen Media Research announced they would begin measuring behavior in consumers using proprietary metering technology.

The two companies stated the measure would be a “new and significant initiative that will substantially improve understanding of how people use iPads for video consumption and other activities.” According to data released by Apple, Inc., makers of the popular iPad product, there have been more than 55 million iPads sold to date and another 3 million sold since March 16, 2012 (launch date of “the new iPad” aka: iPad 3).

The study was commissioned by the Disney/ABC Television Group’s ABC Research department, in which they asked Nielsen to create a proprietary, opt-in metered iPad panel that would “aggregate and measure video consumption, app usage and other activity over the course of a year.” Nielsen will seek approximately 200 individuals/households to download their new metering application on their iPad in order for the companies to measure the reach, duration, frequency and page views of their overall iPad apps and web browsing.

“We have been actively studying consumer tablet usage through our own data for two years, and believe Nielsen’s proprietary technology has the potential to deliver unprecedented additional details about consumer viewing patterns,” said Peter Seymour, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Research for Disney Media Networks. “This study will help us — and ultimately the entire industry — to better understand our consumers, the complete tablet environment and the role our content plays on this fast growing and popular device.”

“With our unique metering capabilities, this work with ABC represents a significant step forward in understanding how consumers are using and bringing the iPad into their day-to-day [lives],” said Cheryl Idell, Executive Vice President, Nielsen Media Research. “The insight gleaned from this study, using these metering capabilities, is an example of how we meet our commitment to deliver cross platform understanding to the industry and provide broader understanding of consumers.”

Preliminary results of the study was provided by Charles Kennedy, ABC’s Senior Vice President, Research, at the Advertising Research Foundations re:Think conference held at the New York Marriott Marquis in New York City.

According to sources, as indicated by Seymour above, ABC has been actively following the usage of its viewers who watch their ABC programming on their iPad’s via the popular ABC Player application. Soap Opera Network has also learned that viewing of ABC programs on the iPad, and in particular  on ABC.com, will play more of a role in the networks decision making when it comes to the renewal chances of its programming. For instance, “Happy Endings,” a popular comedy series airing after “Modern Family” on Wednesday nights, recently ended its second season with low viewership levels in total audience and key sales demographics. Although not confirmed by ABC at this time, TVLine.com reported that “Endings” is likely to be renewed for a third season. This would solely be based on its performance in online viewership as the series plays relatively strong on Hulu.com, ABC.com and the ABC Player on the iPad.

Disney/ABC Television Group

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — ABC’s flagship station will likely leave some New York soap fans upset Monday when the affiliate pre-empts “The Chew” and “One Life to Live” for continuous coverage of the 67th Annual Columbus Day parade, relegating both shows to the early hours of Tuesday morning.

According to WABC-TV President and General Manager Dave Davis, “Channel 7 is proud to partner with the Columbus Citizens Foundation for the largest celebration of Italian American heritage and culture in the world. Viewers choose to watch Channel 7 because they know how well we serve their communities. The Columbus Day Parade is a natural fit for us.”

The press release goes on to state that “Channel 7′s broadcast will reach more than 7.4 million television households in 29 counties covering New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. In addition, the parade will be viewed live by millions of people along Fifth Avenue and on the Italian television network, RAI International.”

WABC-TV’s coverage of the parade will last from noon until 3:00 pm ET on Monday, October 10, meaning fans of “General Hospital” will be still be able to watch their soap in its regular time slot. The station will also be streamed online on their website, and be offered via Video on Demand upon the conclusion of the festivities.

As a result of the schedule change, Monday’s episode of “The Chew” will be broadcast on Channel 7 Tuesday morning at 2:36 am ET, according to TV listings. Fans of “One Life to Live” living in

New York City unable to watch Monday’s episode on either SOAPnet or ABC.com, will have to wait until 3:36 am ET to watch a slightly shortened broadcast of the episode just ahead of WABC-TV’s “Eyewitness News This Morning,” beginning at 4:30 am ET.

Click here to read the press release in its entirety.

Robert Milazzo/ABC

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — If you are like most “One Life to Live” fans on the east coast, you are probably wondering what scenes you missed during the six minute “technical glitch” which caused scenes from the previous day’s episode of the soap to be aired nearly mid-day through Thursday’s episode. In case you missed the corrected airing of the episode with the missing scenes in tact on  either SOAPnet and ABC.com, Soap Opera Network is ready to show you what you missed.

The issue had been rectified in time for the Mountain and Pacific time zone broadcasts (Central time zone feeds off of the east coast feed directly) and the original episode aired as it was originally intended on SOAPnet and ABC.com.

So,whether it be Dorian’s farewell scenes with Viki, John and Natalie remembering the past, Clint and Kim getting caught up on recent events, or Brody asking Victor if he will keep his secret about Liam’s true paternity, you can see the “lost” scenes below:

Disney/ABC Television Group

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — If you happened to be watching the east coast feed of “One Life to Live” today, you may have felt you were in a time warp and it was Wednesday, August 24, 2011 all over again after nearly thirty minutes into the broadcast. Turns out you weren’t in a different dimension or anything more soapy, but you were witnessing a “technical glitch,” an ABC rep confirms to Soap Opera Network.

Today’s east coast glitch, which found a segment that originally aired during the soaps August 24 broadcast taking the place of another previously scheduled segment, had been rectified in time for the mountain and pacific time zone broadcasts (central time zone feeds off of the east coast feed directly) and the original episode will air as it was originally intended on SOAPnet and ABC.com.

This marks yet another occasion where the east coast feed of the soap had been interrupted this week alone. On Tuesday, August 23, an earthquake rocked the east just before the program began and caused local news to interrupt that days broadcast for all or part of the show. The episode aired in its entirety later that evening on SOAPnet and upon availability on ABC.com.

Jeff Neira/ABC

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — If you’re local ABC affiliate broke into “One Life to Live” and/or “General Hospital” today, you might have missed all or part of today’s episodes due to a 5.9 magnitude Earthquake that hit the east coast just before 2:00 PM. Thankfully, SOAPnet and ABC.com are here to save the day for those markets affected by the quake.

According to an ABC representative, if either show was interrupted by your local station due to Earthquake coverage it will be up to the local station to make up for it by airing the shows in a later hour or in the “overnights.” Otherwise, the episodes will be available in their entirety on SOAPnet and ABC.com‘s Full Episode Player as scheduled.

Donna Svennevik/ABC

(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — While reports were stating Brandon Buddy is set to exit ABC’s “One Life to Live” later this fall when his contract expires, Soap Opera Network was unable to confirm the news through proper channels, but sources have since confirmed that Buddy will in fact be leaving the soap in the coming months.

Since news of Buddy’s possible exit first broke on Daytime Confidential last week, Soap Opera Network has learned from insiders that Buddy’s exit was a “mutual agreement” between the soap and the actor. This development doesn’t come as a surprise as in June of this year Buddy’s Twitter account reported that he had chosen not to renew his contract with the drama series. While said post was later claimed to have been the workings of a hacker, it took four days for the actor to respond, which had some wondering if there was a hacker at all.

Buddy joined the cast of “One Life to Live” in October 2006 portraying the role of Cole Thornhart.

IN RELATED NEWS

While details are slowly coming through, Soap Opera Network is hearing that Farah Fath might be next to exit the drama series this fall. Fath joined the cast in October 2007 portraying the role of Gigi Morasco.

“One Life to Live” airs Weekdays on ABC. Anytime on ABC.com.

Disney/ABC Television Group

“General Hospital” and “The View“ receive a special vote of confidence from the ABC Television Network as the two have been added to the network’s popular ABC.com Full Episode Player lineup. The series join ABC’s primetime programming including “Desperate Housewives,” ”Grey’s Anatomy” and “Ugly Betty.”

“We are excited to collaborate with the ABC.com team to offer our viewers another way to get their daily dose of ‘General Hospital’ and ‘The View’,” said Brian Frons, president, Daytime, Disney ABC Television Group. “As part of our ongoing strategic effort to grow our audience and increase awareness of our shows, ABC.com is a proven platform that not only gives existing viewers more access to our shows, but is a great way to introduce a new audience to these shows.”

“General Hospital” and “The View” are the first ABC Daytime programming to be showcased on the networks ABC.com website. Weekly episodes will be available starting today, January 14. The most current broadcast of “The View” will be made available at 1:00 PM, PT the same day it airs on ABC. “General Hospital” will be made available at 2:00 AM, PT the day after airing on ABC. The programs join CBS’ “The Young and the Restless,” ”The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Guiding Light“ and “As The World Turns” as the only daytime programs currently streamed over the web.

Users will also be able to access episodes of “General Hospital” through the recently redesigned SOAPnet.com website via a link to the video player on the site’s “General Hospital” section. “General Hospital” will continue to be broadcast on SOAPnet Weekdays at 10:00 PM ET/PT.

“All My Children” and “One Life to Live” remain the only daytime dramas not currently available online. NBC’s “Days of our Lives” is currently available for download on the Apple owned iTunes platform.

“General Hospital” airs Weekdays on ABC. Weeknights on SOAPnet. Check local listings.