Lawsuit Updates

[cheyz]

Anything new on the lawsuit?

[David T. Cole]

Please feel free to start new threads for characters, episodes, media mentions, actors, etc.

[LeftPhalange]

Are the actors suing to recoup their lost salaries or what? The entire company isn't going bankrupt just the soap division so I don't understand why they haven't been paid yet.

[TeeVee329]

The Hollywood Reporter has an update on "One Lawsuit to Live":

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/one-life-live-producer-plans-724890

[methodwriter85]

ABC and Prospect Park Lawsuit Lingers Into May

 

God, this is hilarious. I really don't want to see One Life to Live get mauled again by General Hospital, though.

Edited March 3, 2015 by methodwriter85

[LeftPhalange]

This is ridiculous. ABC may (or may not) have been a little underhanded in how they handled certain things but I don't think anything they did or didn't do contributed significantly to the failure of the online soaps. This failure was probably inevitable since Prospect Park didn't have enough money, didn't seem to plan enough before hand, and in general, didn't seem to know how to produce online shows.

[dubbel zout]

This failure was probably inevitable since Prospect Park didn't have enough money, didn't seem to plan enough before hand, and in general, didn't seem to know how to produce online shows.

 

Yeah, PP never properly got its ducks in a row, financially or logistically. It's too bad, because I thought that once OLTL, at least (never watched AMC online), got in a groove, the show was really good.

 

I wonder if ABC would do half-hour episodes of OLTL/AMC. I remember when I first started watching OLTL, and it was either 30 or 45 minutes. Going to an hour was a big deal. At this point, I assume it's all about the money; if they can make the numbers work, they'll do something. 

[tessaray]

I wonder if/when they settle the lawsuit, if there's any chance we could get dvds of the TOLN shows.  I started to rewatch on Hulu recently and it's such a drag. I hate the way Hulu does commercials. 

[TeeVee329]

I think the truth or the fault lies somewhere in the middle, but I will never understand those who try to cast ABC as the victims ("Poor ABC, Prospect Park took back the characters they spent millions of dollars licensing!") considering they canceled the shows in the first place.

[TeeVee329]

I wonder if/when they settle the lawsuit, if there's any chance we could get dvds of the TOLN shows.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it blows my mind that nobody - ABC or Prospect Park - has tried to monetize the archives of classic episodes.  Make best of DVD sets, set up some kind of membership web site where people can watch, the interest is there.

[dubbel zout]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it blows my mind that nobody - ABC or Prospect Park - has tried to monetize the archives of classic episodes.  Make best of DVD sets, set up some kind of membership web site where people can watch, the interest is there.

 

I wonder if no network has done this because it's a rights issue of some sort. Not to mention having someone sort through all the tapes and convert them. It might not cost too much, but there it would be a time investment.

[tessaray]

CBS released dvd sets for As the World Turns and Guiding Light.  Long out of print but still, it has been done.  ABC did release a couple of VHS compilation tapes of weddings back in the super couple days.   

 

The TOLN shows are perfect for dvd sets.  20 hours or so of video is about the same as a primetime drama.  And they are already digital.  Are they even for sale on iTunes anymore?  

 

ETA:  Did ABC retain the rights to the network version or does PP have any kind of claim?  If ABC created a standalone Roku or tablet app, I'd subscribe to a classic episodes channel.   

Edited March 8, 2015 by tessaray

[Chairperson Meow]

Just put it on netflix. Scandal, Once Upon a Time, and various other ABC & ABC Family shows are there. They can make money off of it there, and make viewers happy. Imo netflix is better than hulu. No stupid commercials. Also, I want to marathon OLTL on days when certain soaps suck.

[tessaray]

IIRC, PP had some sort of exclusive deal with Hulu, though the details escape me. 

[MSquared]

They also had a deal with iTunes too.

[TeeVee329]

In the latest episode of "One Lawsuit to Live"...

 

http://abc.soapsindepth.com/2015/07/new-twist-in-prospect-park-lawsuit.html

 

If I'm reading this right, I guess the episodes are about to come down off of Hulu?

[jsbt]

It seems very possible. I really hope they're still backed up somewhere other than iTunes, I love watching them or at least knowing they're there. I know there's a handful of various episodes from both shows on YT but they need to all be preserved in good quality.

 

ETA: No! They're fuckin' gone.

Edited July 31, 2015 by jsbt

[TeeVee329]

Oh bummer, they are, already?  I wanted to at least rewatch the two pilots before they got yanked.  Frowny face.

[jsbt]

I'm pretty sure some of the eps (and possibly the pilots) are on YT, though not always in HD. That and their continued iTunes presence consoles me a bit. I hope someone's put them all on P2P networks as well. I intend to have them permanently one way or another.

Edited July 31, 2015 by jsbt

[TeeVee329]

I know a lot of the Todd/Blair stuff is clipped and on YT, but it might be tougher for me to get my Clint or Natalie/Cutter fix.

 

ETA...okay, phew, YT does have this promo, which I thought was fantastic and reminds me how exciting their launch was.  I love Bianca snarling that she hates JR and spitting at him, which they stupidly cut out of the actual episode.

 

Edited July 31, 2015 by TeeVee329

[Melgaypet]

I am super annoyed. I haven't gone back and re-watched those episodes for a while, but I liked knowing I could. Grr.

[Rancide]

If there's anyone out there who still cares about getting this lawsuit resolved, Chapter 7 may be a good thing.  (I'm a lawyer).  It seems like under Chapter 11, PP was still managing the lawsuit with ABC.  Under Chapter 7, a trustee would take over the lawsuit, including the terms of settlement.

 

It's seemed to me for a while that PP, once it realized the web relaunch was a flop, has essentially been playing "stick up" with ABC, betting the shows were worth more to ABC than to PP (which, duh) and trying to coerce a larger settlement out of ABC.  A trustee is likely to have little patience for those games and probably has a better idea of what is an actual reasonable settlement amount.  It also isn't personal for him.

 

In addition, this is one case in which the value of the thing being fought over continues to decrease over time by virtue of the delay.  Back 2 years ago PP had GH over the barrel.  GH ratings were on the upswing, GH had a new writer with a lot of plans for the characters, 3 of the characters were already integrated into the case, and their loss was going to be disruptive to planned storylines.  Now?  Two years have gone by, ratings are at a new low, the show has fired the writer who cared about these characters in the first place, and any momentum that might have existed for these characters and stories is well and truly dead.  This case is worth a lot less than it was 2 years ago.

[Dandesun]

I'm glad I did a recent rewatch. I'm sad they're gone. I wonder if it's worth hoping we'll see them again after it's all settled?

[jsbt]

I assume the only place we'll be seeing them is iTunes or when people upload them to YT (as some have) or other peer-to-peer networks.

 

I intend to invest in buying them all off iTunes soon, but I'd rather make sure I have physical copies as well. Something I can save to a USB or something.

[tessaray]

How much are they on iTunes? 

[jsbt]

I believe they're something like $36 for the whole season, per show.

 

I'll be making the investment sometime in the next few months, but I've never actually bought from iTunes before so I don't know whether there's also hard copies I can DL. I want to be sure I have them if they leave that cloud storage.

[tessaray]

I reinstalled iTunes on my computer recently just to see if the shows were still available.  (I only had a chance to watch a few episodes before they disappeared from Hulu.)  I'm waffling a little - I think $36.99 is too much for just digital copies - though I would have paid that no problem with a dvd set. 

 

My question is - who gets the money if I did buy them? 

[dubbel zout]

I imagine Apple splits the cost with TOLN in some proportion, given they have a license agreement.

[tessaray]

Well, the lawsuit has been dismissed.  I wonder if this means anything other than just one last dangling thread snipped?

 

http://www.welovesoaps.net/2016/12/prospect-park-networks-vs-abc-case.html 

[jsbt]

I am probably going to buy them if they last the month. I really, really want them preserved in HD.

[tessaray]

IANAL but I'm guessing the bankruptcy will back on the front burner.  Surely some company will buy their assets, such as they are but yeah, I'm thinking the same thing.     

I did manage to snag episodes off Youtube but it would be nice to have them in good quality.