Ninemsn's near miss as SoapCity cans downloads - News

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Ninemsn's near miss as SoapCity cans downloads

By Angus Kidman, ZDNet Australia
March 03, 2005
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/soa/Ninemsn-s-near-miss-as-SoapCity-cans-downloads/0,139023165,139183160,00.htm

TV soap fans may be hysterical at the news that a site that allowed downloads of their favourite shows has shut down, but executives at ninemsn will be breathing a sigh of relief.

Late last week, SoapCity.com sent out an email announcing that its SoapCity download offering, which allowed viewers to watch episodes of popular daytime dramas such as Days Of Our Lives and The Young And The Restless on their PCs as a pay-per-view or subscription service, would cease operations at the end of March.

In 2004, ninemsn, regularly ranked the most popular site in Australia, began negotiations with SoapCity.com to utilise some of its content. Ninemsn's TV affiliate Nine Network was working on plans to skip four years worth of episodes of its two US daytime soaps, and wanted to offer online summaries to help confused fans get up to speed.

Nine went ahead with the plans in September last year, but the online partnership with SoapCity -- including the possibility of allowing fans to download unseen episodes -- never eventuated. Content relating to soaps on ninemsn now forms part of the site for TV Week.

Soapcity.com, operated by electronics and media giant Sony, had begun offering the download service in February 2003. A spokesperson for the company told irate subscribers on the site's message board: "While the site enjoyed success and served the demand of its subscribers, the cost of maintaining the site with a limited library is not economically viable." Users have speculated that the lack of commercials in the downloads may have also caused problems, while online video services generally are facing stiff competition from hard-drive-based personal video recorders (PVRs).