(SoapOperaNetwork.com) — Since we reported an update to ABC’s decision to hand over the “General Hospital” timeslot in September 2012 back to its affiliates in the Disney/ABC Television Groups plan to launch a new talk show hosted by Katie Couric, fans have been up in arms over the possible demise of a daytime institution (on top of the demises of “All My Children” and “One Life to Live”) after a number of them started calling their local ABC affiliates and reportedly were told that the network had informed them they would be pulling “GH” off the ABC Daytime schedule as early as June 2012. Now an ABC Daytime representative tells Soap Opera Network that those rumors are just “not true.”
“This is not true…our ABC stations have not been told that the ‘General Hospital’ time slot will end in June. The confusion probably lies in giving back the ‘GH’ ‘Time Period’ to the stations come September 2012,” said the rep who reminds us of the following statement issued back in June of this year:
“The announcement does not mean the inevitable cancellation of ‘General Hospital.’ Rather it means that in September 2012 we will program our daytime block with our three strongest shows. We’ll have options for the Daytime daypart just like we do each year with Primetime. We believe in all of our shows and the ones that our viewers want, will be the ones that continue. There are MANY options that could happen…only time will tell…we are simply giving ourselves options for the future, which is a smart way to do business. The best way to ensure a favorite show stays on the air is to watch it.”
