Editing Soapnet (section)

===Early history (2000–02)===
When Soapnet launched on January 20, 2000, the channel aired only current [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] soap operas in the evening and early morning, so that people who were at work or school during the day could watch them at their convenience. Programming was inclusive, as the channel was owned by ABC. Soapnet eventually gained high cable carriage due to [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]]'s aggressive policy of pulling ABC-[[owned-and-operated station|owned broadcast stations]] and the popular [[ESPN]] channels from cable providers if they did not agree to carry Soapnet as well. This was the main reason for ABC [[owned-and-operated station]] [[WABC-TV]] being pulled from [[Time Warner Cable]]'s [[New York City]] system for two days in May 2000.<ref>[http://archives.cnn.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/02/time.warner.02 Entertainment ABC to return to Time Warner Cable] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070305013229/http://archives.cnn.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/02/time.warner.02 |date=2007-03-05 }} CNN, May 3, 2000</ref>

When Soapnet was announced, [[Sony Pictures Entertainment]] planned to launch a competing cable channel and website called [[SoapCity]], which would air all [[CBS]] soap operas and the [[Sony Pictures Television|Sony-owned/produced]] [[NBC]] soap ''[[Days of Our Lives]]''. The plans for the SoapCity cable channel were abandoned early in 2000 after Sony failed to secure cable carriage, though the website component remained.

Soapnet's inaugural lineup aired current soaps such as ''[[All My Children]]'', ''[[One Life to Live]]'', ''[[General Hospital]]'' and ''[[Port Charles]]'', along with canceled daytime and nighttime soaps such as ''[[Falcon Crest]]'', ''[[Knots Landing]]'', ''[[The Colbys]]'', ''[[Hotel (American TV series)|Hotel]]'', ''[[Sisters (American TV series)|Sisters]]'', and ''[[Ryan's Hope]]''. As the years went on, Soapnet introduced original programming such as ''[[Soap Center]]'' and ''[[Soap Talk]]'', the latter of which was nominated for several [[Daytime Emmy Award]]s. ''Soap Center'', which debuted on Soapnet's launch day schedule, was initially hosted by former soap stars [[Brooke Alexander]] and [[David Forsyth (actor)|David Forsyth]]. They were replaced the following year by [[Peggy Bunker]]: based on the East Coast and covering New York-based soaps; and [[Tanika Ray]] discussing West Coast-based soaps. [[Peggy Bunker]] also hosted all events from Super Soap Weekend from Walt Disney World in Florida, including an exclusive interview with Susan Lucci. By 2003, the show ceased filming original material.

Other original series included ''[[1 Day With]]'', a half-hour program featuring interviews with soap actors, that was hosted by ''General Hospital'' actor [[Wally Kurth]]; ''[[I Wanna Be a Soap Star]]'', a recurring reality series in which twelve young actors compete for a contract role on a daytime soap; and ''[[Soapography]]'', a 30-minute show profiling the lives and current shows of two different soap opera actors.