• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, November 23, 2011

A closely watched experiment to revive classic and much beloved TV soap operas "One Life to Live" and All My Children" via an online distribution model has failed.

"After five months of negotiations with various guilds, hundreds of presentations to potential financial and technology partners, and a hope that we could pioneer a new network for the future, it is with great disappointment that we are suspending our aspirations," Rich Frank and Jeff Kwatinetz of Prospect Park, the company developing the online soaps initiative said in a statement, adding, "It is now becoming clear that mounting issues make our ability to meet our deadlines to get 'OLTL' on the air in a reasonable time period following its January 13, 2012 ABC finale impossible.

"We believed the timing was right to launch an online TV network anchored by these two iconic soap operas," they continued, "but we always knew it would be an uphill battle to create something historical, and unfortunately we couldn’t ultimately secure the backing and clear all the hurdles in time. We believe we exhausted all reasonable options apparent to us, but despite enormous personal, as well as financial cost to ourselves, we failed to find a solution."