Editing Passions (section)

===Move to DirecTV===
On January 17, 2007, NBC announced that it would not renew ''Passions'' for a ninth season, in order to accommodate a planned expansion of its morning news and talk show ''[[Today (American TV program)|Today]]'' to a fourth hour. NBC reclaimed the program's hour-long slot in order to extend ''Today'' into the 10:00&nbsp;am ET hour, rather than acquiring an extra hour of programming time already allocated to its stations for [[broadcast syndication|syndicated]] or local programs. NBC soon began shopping the series to other networks. In April 2007, [[satellite television|satellite television provider]] [[DirecTV]] reached an agreement with NBCUniversal Television Studio to acquire the exclusive [[broadcasting rights|broadcast rights]] to ''Passions'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.soapcentral.com/ps/news/2007/0115-cancelled.php|title=NBC pulls the plug on Passions|access-date=2010-02-27|archive-date=2010-04-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100407181115/http://www.soapcentral.com/ps/news/2007/0115-cancelled.php|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.soapcentral.com/ps/news/2007/0430-directv.php|title=Passions finds new life on satellite|access-date=2010-02-27|archive-date=2009-06-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090625092342/http://www.soapcentral.com/ps/news/2007/0430-directv.php|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Variety 2007-04">{{cite news |url=https://variety.com/2007/digital/markets-festivals/passions-heads-to-directv-1117963754/ |title=''Passions'' heads to DirecTV |last=Adalian |first=Josef |date=April 24, 2007 |access-date=December 15, 2008 |work=Variety |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117100407/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117963754?refCatId=14 |archive-date=January 17, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> with most of the serial's principal cast members staying on.<ref>[http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/passions-who-wont-survive-the-move-to-directv/ "''Passions'': Who Won't Survive the Move to DirecTV?" - TV SeriesFinale.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603232738/http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/passions-who-wont-survive-the-move-to-directv/ |date=2016-06-03 }}, May 24, 2007</ref>

Ahead of the move from NBC to DirecTV, the call-in [[aftershow]] ''Passions Live'', hosted by [[Eric Martsolf]] (who succeeded original cast member [[Travis Schuldt]] as Ethan Winthrop in 2002), premiered on DirecTV's general entertainment network [[Audience (TV network)|The 101]] in August 2007, making ''Passions'' the first (and only) American soap opera to ever have a live talk show. Airing weekly on Thursday nights until October 2007 and streamed simultaneously on NBC.com's official ''Passions'' website, the show gave fans the chance to call into the program and interact live with cast members from the soap.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nbc.com/Passions/video/categories/passions-live/802621/ |title=Passions - Collections - Passions Live - Video - NBC.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100224060611/http://www.nbc.com/Passions/video/categories/passions-live/802621 |archive-date=2010-02-24 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Passions LIVE!|url=http://www.nbc.com/Passions/news/passions_live_archive.shtml?vidID=151338#content|work=NBC. com|publisher=NBC Universal Media, LLC|access-date=22 June 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025183201/http://www.nbc.com/Passions/news/passions_live_archive.shtml?vidID=151338#content|archive-date=25 October 2012}}</ref> ''Passions'' ended its NBC run after eight seasons on September 7, 2007, leaving ''Days of Our Lives'' as the network's lone remaining soap opera and conventional daytime program (until it was moved to the co-owned [[Peacock (streaming service)|Peacock]] streaming service in September 2022 to accommodate the afternoon newscast ''[[NBC News Daily]]''); new episodes subsequently began airing on The 101 ten days later on September 17, becoming the first (and {{as of|2024|lc=y}}, only) American daytime network soap opera to move their first-run episodes to a linear subscription television service.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nbc.com/Passions/news/dtv_press_release.shtml |title=NBC'S ''Passions'' to work its magic on DIRECTV viewers with all new episodes beginning September 17 |publisher=NBC.com |access-date=July 12, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327153719/http://www.nbc.com/Passions/news/dtv_press_release.shtml |archive-date=March 27, 2008 }}</ref>

With the move to The 101, episodes were reduced to four days a week, airing Monday–Thursday at 2:00&nbsp;pm [[Eastern Time Zone|ET]]/11&nbsp;am [[Pacific Time Zone|PT]] (retaining the timeslot it had held since its NBC debut), with repeats airing later in the day and on weekends. NBC.com continued to maintain ''Passions''{{'}} official website after the series moved over to DirecTV; however, first-run episodes were no longer made available to stream for free on NBC's website or for purchase at iTunes. Initially, new episodes were supposed to air exclusively on DirecTV after the soap concluded its run on NBC; however, on September 27, 2007, DirecTV announced it would provide viewers who were not already DirecTV subscribers an "All Access Pass to ''Passions''" to stream all newer episodes on NBC.com after their initial airing on The 101 for a monthly fee.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvseriesfinale.com/2007/09/passions_directv_soap_available_online_but_not_fre.php |archive-url=https://archive.today/20071004095108/http://www.tvseriesfinale.com/2007/09/passions_directv_soap_available_online_but_not_fre.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-10-04 |title="''Passions'': DirecTV Soap Available Online — But Not Free" - TVSeriesFinale.com |access-date=2007-09-28 }}, September 27, 2007</ref><ref name="directv.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPage.jsp?assetId=P4380100|title=Get DIRECTV Premium Channels - Audience, DOG TV & More|access-date=2010-02-27|archive-date=2011-06-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605122723/http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPage.jsp?assetId=P4380100|url-status=live}}</ref> This subscription offering launched on October 1, 2007, originally priced at $19.99 per month (later reduced to $14.99 when ''Passions'' cut its weekly schedule from four episodes to three). In another first for the soap opera genre, episodes airing on The 101 included a interactive feature allowing viewers to answer a special ''Passions'' trivia question that appeared on-screen as a pop-up using their remote control.<ref name="directv.com"/>

On December 10, 2007, ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' magazine<ref name="Variety 2008">{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2007/scene/markets-festivals/directv-to-cut-ties-with-passions-1117977472/|title="DirecTV to cut ties with ''Passions''" - Variety.com|date=11 December 2007|work=Variety|access-date=27 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108055612/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117977472?refCatId=14|archive-date=8 November 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> and various cast members<ref name="castcancel">"''Passions'' Canceled Again?" ''Soap Opera Digest''. January 1, 2008, Vol. 33 No. 1.</ref><ref name="tvseriesfinale">{{cite web|url=http://www.tvseriesfinale.com/2007/12/passions_cancelled_twice_in_one_year.php|archive-url=https://archive.today/20071212232339/http://www.tvseriesfinale.com/2007/12/passions_cancelled_twice_in_one_year.php|url-status=dead|archive-date=2007-12-12|title=''Passions'': Cancelled Twice in One Year?|publisher=TV SeriesFinale.com|date=2007-12-10|access-date=2008-03-22}}</ref> confirmed that DirecTV had decided not to renew ''Passions'' for a tenth season, but extended its existing order to include 52 additional episodes to be taped through March 2008. In January 2008, DirecTV reduced the show's schedule to three episodes per week, airing Monday through Wednesday.<ref name="Variety 2008"/> [[Universal Media Studios]] wrapped up production of ''Passions'' on March 28, 2008. As confirmed by original cast member [[McKenzie Westmore]] (Sheridan Crane), the cast and crew were told at the wrap party that efforts to find a new outlet had failed and that the show's cancellation was final.<ref name="varietycancel"/><ref>[http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/passions-the-soap-is-really-over-this-time/ "''Passions'': The Soap is Really Over This Time" - TVSeriesFinale.com], March 31, 2007</ref> New episodes continued to air on The 101 until August 7, 2008, when ''Passions'' ended its nine-season run. Though ''Passions'' had been the highest-rated original program on DirecTV's The 101, it was reported that the network had failed to meet the projected number of new subscribers they had hoped to attract with the series.<ref>{{cite web |title=''Passions'' cancelled... again |url=http://www.soapcentral.com/ps/news/2007/1210-cancelled.php |last=Kroll |first=Dan J. |date=December 24, 2007 |publisher=[[Soapcentral]] |access-date=December 26, 2008 |archive-date=December 22, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222003439/http://www.soapcentral.com/ps/news/2007/1210-cancelled.php |url-status=live }}</ref>