Oprah's New Network Set To Make Debut In 85 Million Homes Saturday

If you get the Discovery Health Channel, chances are you'll be able to watch Oprah Winfrey welcome you to her new network when it launches Saturday.

With the addition this week of Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC), about 85 million homes will be able to see the daytime television queen's new network. Roughly 80 million homes currently carry Discovery Health, which is ending and being rebranded as the Oprah Winfrey Network, or OWN. In comparison, there are about 115.9 million television households, according to Nielsen Co., and the largest networks, like the signature Discovery Channel, reach upwards of 100 million and niche players, like children's network Sprout, reach fewer than 50 million homes.

The tricky part, especially if the new network proves popular, will be when cable or satellite companies' existing contracts with Discovery Communications Inc. (DISCA, DISCK) expire. Discovery and Winfrey's Harpo Inc. production company each own half of the new network, and the goal is to secure significantly higher monthly fees and advertising revenue than Discovery Health currently receives.

Discovery is looking to kick-start a seldom-watched channel, and Winfrey wants to move to the next phase of her illustrious career. Discovery Health notches an average of just 252,000 prime-time viewers on a given night, according to Nielsen, while Oprah Winfrey's syndicated afternoon show is averaging 6.7 million viewers in this, its final, season.

Discovery Health charges television providers an average of 7 cents per subscriber, per month, according to data from SNL Kagan, and will bring in about $80.1 million in net operating revenue this year, with cash flow of around $30.3 million.

Some cable providers, like Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) and Mediacom Communications Corp. (MCCC), will transition to OWN from Discovery Health without needing to draw up a new contract until the current contract to receive their packages of Discovery channels is finished. At that point, these providers will negotiate with Discovery for its channels separately from negotiations with a new entity responsible solely for OWN.

Spokesmen for Cox Enterprises Inc.'s Cox Communications, Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) and Insight Communications Co. (ICCI) also said they will broadcast OWN starting with its launch.

Others like satellite-television provider Dish Network Corp. (DISH) already have Discovery Health but still need to hammer out a new deal for OWN. Marc Lumpkin, a Dish spokesman, said it expects to launch OWN when it begins transmission on New Year's Day, but that Dish is "still finalizing contract terms at this time."

Satellite provider DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV) and cable behemoth Comcast Corp. (CMCSK, CMCSA) didn't return phone calls, nor did some small, regional service providers.

Cablevision, which didn't carry the Discovery Health network, announced Tuesday it would carry OWN but didn't reveal the terms. The cable company recently acquired Bresnan Communications, which serves around 320,000 customers in four western U.S. states and already had Discovery Health available to its subscribers.

Nicole Nichols, a spokeswoman for OWN, said it expects all of the roughly 80 million television households that currently have access to Discovery Health will be able to watch OWN. When coupled with the addition of Cablevision subscribers, that number jumps to 85 million households.

A spokeswoman for Discovery didn't respond to a request for comment.

When it comes time to negotiate new contracts to carry OWN, how much the network commands and how much the cable companies are willing to pay will depend upon the fledgling network's success.

OWN is planning at least 22 original series next year, with programs ranging from prime-time talk specials, such as "Ask Oprah's All Stars," which first airs Sunday, to series following celebrities, including mother-daughter country duo Naomi and Wynonna Judd.

-By Maxwell Murphy, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2171; [e-mail]

--Sam Schechner contributed to this article.