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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Monzo" data-source="post: 438088" data-attributes="member: 19949">About Loving in Italy: It was called "Quando si ama (When You Love)" and it was a hit - until The Bold and the Beautiful came along. Loving aired in double episodes at 1:45 PM starting in September 1986. After a few years, the problem arose that Italy was too close to the original US airing, so a summer break was implemented in 1990. The Loving timeslot was taken over by the brand new soap The Bold and the Beautiful, which also aired in double episodes and attracted more viewers than Loving ever did (over six million). As a consequence of B&B's success, Loving was moved to the morning slot in the fall, airing single episodes, which resulted in a significant drop in viewership. While Loving did eventually air until its end, it had lost its appeal. It's no wonder that no Italian network wanted to buy The City after Loving's demise.Is it actually known whether the alleged international sale has ever saved a soap from cancellation, or was this supposed great success overseas just a promotional ploy to convince viewers in the home country of a struggling soap?It's nice that a soap was supposedly a hit in Finland, but in countries where soaps are only subtitled, they usually only attract a few hundred thousand viewers. While that might be considered a hit in those countries, it doesn't generate much revenue from sales there. Revenue from Europe can only be generated from the major European countries, but there, the cost of dubbing comes into play, making it difficult for broadcasters. Even though there were often morning reruns of the previous day's soaps in the 80s and 90s, the dubbing costs weren't really recouped. Essentially, only dubbed sitcoms and crime dramas, which could generate good revenue through reruns, allowed broadcasters to afford US daytime soaps. Daytime soaps were canceled more quickly than shows from other genres when their ratings declined. There was also a rumor that whoever in the US was receiving the revenue from international sales demanded exorbitant prices, with prices increasing the longer a soap ran in a country. As far as I know, the Italian broadcaster was supposed to pay $5,000 for an episode of Y&R (which had solid ratings in Italy) in the 90s, so Y&R was ultimately canceled. In Italy, all US daytime soaps disappeared except for Beautiful, because the Americans were supposedly far too greedy. Instead, soaps from Spain, Germany, and Turkey are now airing along Beautiful.</blockquote>

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