LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Disney/ABC Cable Networks has set a launch date of Jan. 24 for its new soap opera channel that it has named SoapNet. The 24-hour ad-supported network will feature same-day primetime reruns of Disney-owned ABC's "All My Children," "General Hospital," "One Life to Live" and "Port Charles" and an original program called "Soap Center" that has yet to be defined. SoapNet is poised to compete with Sony's planned new soap opera channel called "SoapCity," also scheduled to be launched early next year. SoapCity will run same-day primetime repeats of soaps from Sony-owned Columbia TriStar Television and Procter & Gamble such as "The Young and the Restless," "Days of Our Lives," "Guiding Light," "Another World" and "As the World Turns." Neither network has announced distribution deals or specific program schedules. |