For several years now, soap fans have been lamenting their favorite shows' declining ratings. With fewer viewers supposedly tuning in to check out the daytime drama, the result has been the cancellation of five soaps in the past five years. Officially, networks have said that there are fewer viewers tuning in to the soaps -- but is that really the case?

In an age of TiVos, DVRs, SOAPnet, and Internet viewing, soap fans have far more ways to watch their favorite soap operas than ever before. While those fans may no longer be watching "live" during the day, the very assertion that their viewing habits don't matter has infuriated the notoriously loyal group.

Though it may be too late to save All My Children, As the World Turns, Guiding Light, One Life to Live, and Passions, there does appear to be a growing movement to overhaul the ratings system.

The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM), today announced that A+E Networks (A&E, Lifetime, the History Channel) and Scripps Networks, LLC (HGTV, Food Network), have joined in the call for improving the way that viewing audiences are counted.

Currently, the industry standard for measuring who is watching a particular television program is the Nielsen ratings system. Nielsen developed a process that uses a random sampling of television viewers to determine a program's total number of viewers. One ratings point equates to just about 1.3 million people.

"The combination of rapid technology advancements and shifting consumer behavior is quickly changing the media landscape in how we consume media and how we measure that consumption," said Mike Greco, EVP Research, A+E Networks.

CIMM is also backed by media and consumer giants AT&T, CBS, Comcast (the parent company of NBC), Discovery, Disney (the parent company of ABC), News Corp (the parent company of FOX), Procter & Gamble, Time Warner, and Viacom.