I agree with you.
While I understand the concern, the fact is that Muppets fit much more easily into the Disney mold than soap operas.
The cancellation of ABC's soaps is not about soaps at all. This is about television viewers and advertisers and TV as a radically changing beast. Daytime television is just one of many other casualties. Watch what NBC did to Law & Order. They canceled the original and completely dumbed-down the rest of the spin-offs. One will be axed soon and the others are in trouble! Everything is centered around reality programing, contests and game shows. They're cheap and gain a heckofalot more viewers. It's about money.
The only way I can see this really affecting the Muppets is that they'll have an even harder time finding an audience on network television, but that's not news to us. I can see this also as disrespecting a long-standing enterprise. I don't think that's likely to happen to the Muppets unless the film performs poorly.
I don't think that'll happen.
The bottom line - the same people who buy products advertised on soaps will just as easily buy them from some reality show in the same slot and those programs only cost a fraction of a soap's budget to produce. Heck, nightime television is a harsh world where things that are very popular are axed for not being popular enough.
The Muppet films aren't all that expensive to make compared to other special effects films so I think they have a better chance working on the same page with Disney. I'm saddened for soap fans, but I 'm not worried for the Muppets.