AceShowbiz -

Prospect Park, which produces "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" for The Online Network, has stopped the production on the two soap operas. The production company says in a statement released on Wednesday night, June 5 that it began a long-planned hiatus for both shows on Thursday instead of June 17 as expected before, citing a dispute with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which represents crew members, over wage issue.

"The hiatus is scheduled to end on Aug. 12 pending resolution of this labor issue," the company states. "Right now we have 40 episodes of each show ready to post through September, and if we can resolve this issue by August, we can get back into the studio on time so audiences will enjoy uninterrupted postings of their favorite shows."

Prospect Park adds, "We believe we have met all contract requirements with IATSE, and as an Internet start-up, and per our contract with the IA, we cannot afford, and our business model cannot sustain, traditional broadcast rates."

Poiting out that both show "consistently earn top rankings on both Hulu and iTunes since" it premiered via Hulu and iTunes on April 29, the company claims, "We are committed to these shows, and to the nearly 300 jobs they produce, thus we are exploring every legal and logistical option to maintain our production schedule."

IATSE has no comment on the matter, but a Local 52 (NY) business representative, Ray Fortune, confirms that the union is currently in talks with representatives of the shows.

Prospect Park resurrects "AMC" and "OLTL" which were canceled by ABC in September 2011 and January 2012 respectively. After releasing four episodes per week, the company decided to cut the release schedule to two episodes per week for each series, reasoning that it was releasing too many episodes at once, and thus forcing viewers to binge view and pick one series over the other.