My Network TV revamping format, dropping five-night telenovela lineup

My Network TV's telenovela format, which asked U.S. viewers to tune in nightly for an hourlong installment, will be trimmed back.

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The next version of My Network TV, scheduled to launch March 8 on stations covering 95 percent of the country, includes two soap operas already in the pipeline -- "American Heiress" and "Saints & Sinners," which stars Maria Conchita Alonso, Robin Givens and Mel Harris.

Each will air weekly in two-hour blocks instead of five nights a week, the Chicago Tribune reported.

"Unfortunately, I don't think anybody has the time to watch one particular show five nights a week in prime time," said Greg Meidel, My Network TV president. "You have too many viewer choices."

Besides the two nighttime serials, the network -- owned by News Corp. -- will feature movie nights and a series chronicling the lives of mixed-martial-arts fighters.

The telenovelas, developed by News Corp.'s Twentieth Television, were used as a stopgap solution for stations orphaned when CBS and Warner Bros. announced they were shutting down UPN and the WB networks to launch the CW last fall.