The days of wall-to-wall prime-time soaps on US network MyNetworkTV are limited.

The fledgling network is ditching its telenovela strategy from March 8th, adding movies and a popular form of Martial Arts known as 'Ultimate Fighting' to their schedule.

MyNetworkTV will showcase ultimate fighting on Monday nights, with the International Fight League's Total Impact, hosted by Joe Rogan (Fear Factor). Movies will now screen on Thursday and Friday nights.

A third installment of telenovelas is already in production, but these will now only screen in two hour blocks on Tuesday (American Heiress) and Wednesday nights (Saints & Sinners, starring Robin Givens).
The lineup changes come after poor ratings for the experiment of screening english telenovelas six nights a week. MyNetworkTV was created by Fox to fill the gap created when the WB and UPN networks merged, leaving at least one local station in most cities without programming.

* MediaWeek: MyNetworkTV Shuffles Schedule