America Media, Inc. (AMI) has purchased 37-year-old Soap Opera Digest from previous owner Source Interlink Media. As followers of Soap Opera Network knew, America Media licensed Digest from Source Interlink on April 14, 2011, wherein American Media would retain editorial, advertising, marketing and distribution control of the magazine and its sister publications Soap Opera Weekly and Pixie! (both now defunct), while ownership would remain with Source Interlink.
ABC Cancels ‘The Revolution,’ Provides ‘General Hospital’ With Possible 50th Anniversary Celebration
As Soap Opera Network first reported on March 16, Deadline's Nellie Andreeva is reporting that ABC has officially canceled "The Revolution" and plans to slide "General Hospital" into the 2:00 PM ET/1:00 PM PT timeslot beginning Monday, September 10, the same day the network hands over the 3:00 PM ET/2:00 PM PT time period to affiliates. The news was later reported by The New York Times.
Although the likelihood was expected thanks to the loss of long-time soaps "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" in 2011 and 2012, which were preceded by the departures of "Guiding Light" and "As The World Turns" in 2009 and 2010, news broke on Thursday, March 22 that after 22 years in publication Soap Opera Weekly would end its successful run as one of the premier soap opera magazines. The final decision to end the mag was just one of many blows the soap opera industry has felt in as many years. Soap Opera Network takes a by the numbers look at Weekly and how its readership levels helped lead to its ultimate demise.
In a story we had been following since it was first reported last April that Soap Opera Weekly and Soap Opera Digest magazines would fall under the umbrella of American Media, publishers of such mags as Star and TV Guide, Soap Opera Network has learned that after 22 years Soap Opera Weekly (launched in November 1989) will be shuttered and its April 10, 2012 issue will be its last.
On Sunday, November 13, The New York Times reported that American Media, Inc., which earlier this year purchased the licensing rights of both Soap Opera Digest and Soap Opera Weekly from owner Source Interlink, in which the company now oversees all aspects including editorial, advertising, marketing and distribution, would be launching a new weekly magazine dubbed Reality Weekly.
While "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" were receiving worldwide attention after it was announced that ABC had decided be cancel both series on the afternoon of what is now known as Black Thursday (April 14), magazine publisher Source Interlink quietly made noise of its own that very morning when it announced it would be laying off more than half of its employees working on popular magazines Soap Opera Digest and Soap Opera Weekly. Now comes word that the company, which handed over editorial, advertising, marketing and distribution control of the magazine's to American Media, which runs such rags as The National Enquirer, has officially laid off the affected individuals.