Fans of NBC’s Passions were understandably upset last January when the network announced that the steamy soap had been cancelled. A few months later, satellite provider DirecTV stepped in to “save the day” and made a deal to produce Passions for their exclusive Channel 101.

Unfortunately, many fans can’t subscribe to DirecTV due to economics or a variety of other reasons. When Passions leaves NBC on September 7th, there’ll be no way for them to follow the adventures of their favorite Harmony residents. Or will there?

Last night, DirecTV hosted the first of four half-hour shows called Passions LIVE!. Castmember Eric Martsolf (Ethan) hosted the program, chatted with Juliet Mills (Tabitha) and Heidi Mueller (Kay), and answered fans’ questions.

After the show, Eric spent about 10 minutes online with viewers. One fan asked if Passions would be available online. Martsolf responded, “DirectTV knows that you guys want to watch it online so they’re taking steps and they’re making efforts to make sure that it is broadcast online very, very soon.” (You can hear it for yourself at the 4:45 mark.)

This certainly doesn’t qualify as an official announcement about online viewing but it does gives hope that there’s some action going on behind the scenes. Though production of the show will ultimately be funded by subscriber revenue, DirecTV knows that everyone can’t subscribe. Hopefully, the number of people who have subscribed will be enough to make the venture worth their investment and keep the soap going for years to come — both via Channel 101 and online.

We’ll keep you posted on any new developments so stay tuned!