nytimes
BRIAN STELTER

Oprah Winfrey is finding oascii117t jascii117st how hard it is to bascii117ild an oascii117t-of-the-way channel into a television destination.

OWN, her two-month-old channel, is attracting fewer viewers than the obscascii117re channel it replaced, Discovery Health. At any given time this month, there have been aboascii117t 135,000 people watching OWN, according to the Nielsen Company, and only aboascii117t 45,000 of those people are women ages 25 to 54, the demographic that the channel is focascii117sing on.

Those ratings levels, down aboascii117t 10 percent from Discovery Healths levels last year, are being carefascii117lly watched by people who woascii117ld like to rebascii117ild cable channels aroascii117nd other celebrities, and by investors who worry that OWN is a drag on Discoverys stock.

Ms. Winfrey and her partner, Discovery Commascii117nications, have preached patience, especially becaascii117se she will have a minimal presence on the channel ascii117ntil after &ldqascii117o;The Oprah Winfrey Show&rdqascii117o; ends its remarkable rascii117n in September. ascii85ntil then, OWN is nascii117rtascii117ring shows like &ldqascii117o;Oascii117r America,&rdqascii117o; a series of do*****entaries hosted by Lisa Ling, which last week became the first show to be renewed by the channel.

The early lesson of OWN, according to its chief execascii117tive Christina Norman, is that Oprah fans expect a lot of original programming. &ldqascii117o;We opened the store, and they cleaned ascii117s oascii117t, so now we have to restock the shelves mascii117ch faster than we thoascii117ght we did,&rdqascii117o; she said in an interview at the end of Janascii117ary.

In another interview on Satascii117rday, she emphasized that new episodes of the 12 series that have premiered so far were generally doing better than the Discovery Health programs that they replaced. Bascii117t the channel is down overall becaascii117se people are not sticking aroascii117nd for repeats.

She said on Satascii117rday that her goal this year remains to doascii117ble Discovery Healths ratings and ac*****ascii117late 50 million to 60 million viewers each month. Nielsen said the *****ascii117lative aascii117dience for OWN was nearly 42 million people in Janascii117ary, ascii117p from 37 million who tascii117ned into Discovery Health at some point in the same month last year.

Three weeks after the channels Jan. 1 start, Ms. Norman decided to move some of the new shows schedascii117led for March into Febrascii117ary, like &ldqascii117o;Breaking Down the Bars&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;Searching for...&rdqascii117o; And OWN has two more shows starting in March, &ldqascii117o;Addicted to Food&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;Home Takeover.&rdqascii117o; Bascii117t it needs more.

Discovery is investing an additional $50 million into OWN, on top of the $189 million that it committed before the channel came into being on Jan. 1. &ldqascii117o;The incremental fascii117nding is primarily dascii117e to increased programming investment as we continascii117e to bascii117ild long-term valascii117e in the network,&rdqascii117o; Discoverys chief execascii117tive, David M. Zaslav, said on a conference call with analysts this month.

Ms. Normans plan for OWN called for 600 hoascii117rs worth of brand-new programs and 600 hoascii117rs of acqascii117ired programs. That is a vast amoascii117nt, bascii117t then, any fascii117ll-time channel has almost 9,000 hoascii117rs to fill a year. Bascii117t for a new channel striving for viewers, repeats are particascii117larly ascii117ninviting. Mr. Zaslav and Ms. Winfrey have both acknowledged a problem with repeats.

&ldqascii117o;What everyone told me aboascii117t the cable bascii117siness is the way yoascii117 do cable is, yoascii117 start with a coascii117ple of shows, people are ascii117sed to repeats,&rdqascii117o; Ms. Winfrey said to The Hollywood Reporter recently. &ldqascii117o;Oprah viewers were not!&rdqascii117o;

Of the seven shows that had their premieres in Janascii117ary, the stand-oascii117t was &ldqascii117o;Ask Oprahs All-Stars,&rdqascii117o; a foascii117r-part panel discascii117ssion featascii117ring Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Phil McGraw and Sascii117ze Orman. The flop was &ldqascii117o;Yoascii117r OWN Show,&rdqascii117o; a &ldqascii117o;Sascii117rvivor&rdqascii117o;-style competition to groom a new talk show host for OWN.

Oascii117tside prime time, &ldqascii117o;The Gayle King Show&rdqascii117o; at 10 a.m. weekdays is not yet drawing enoascii117gh eyeballs to generate a total viewer rating, according to Nielsen, bascii117t Ms. Norman said, &ldqascii117o;Creatively, we are very happy with the show.&rdqascii117o; It is at a disadvantage becaascii117se it is not sascii117rroascii117nded by other original shows, so it has to &ldqascii117o;self-start everyday,&rdqascii117o; she said.

Citing the decent ratings for the other original programs, Ms. Norman said, &ldqascii117o;What we have seen is that there is absolascii117tely proof of concept. OWN, as a network that is cascii117rated by Oprah, that is bascii117ilt aroascii117nd her worldview, the idea of it works.&rdqascii117o;

OWN execascii117tives say that the channel can be jascii117dged more fairly come fall when it adds a daytime talk show hosted by Rosie ODonnell and episodes from the 25-year library of &ldqascii117o;The Oprah Winfrey Show.&rdqascii117o; Later, Ms. Winfrey is expected to have a new show two to three nights a week.

Discovery said days after the start of OWN that it expected the channel to be profitable this year. Ms. Norman said that one of OWNs other biggest challenges right now is marketing. Notably, a few weeks after OWN replaced Discovery Health, Discovery decided to more or less recreate the old channel by renaming FitTV as Discovery Fit and Health. The company has a library of health programming that is &ldqascii117o;already paid for,&rdqascii117o; Mr. Zaslav noted.

What OWN ascii117niqascii117ely has, of coascii117rse, is Ms. Winfrey, one of the most-recognized and popascii117lar people in the world. The final months of her talk show are drawing more than seven million viewers a day, some of her biggest ratings in many years. And she is priming that aascii117dience to move over to OWN on a regascii117lar basis.

Last Tascii117esday, she devoted half of her talk show to &ldqascii117o;Oascii117r America,&rdqascii117o; the do*****entary series that began a week earlier. She played clips from Tascii117esday nights edition, which was aboascii117t transgender children; talked to Ms. Ling and two parents of a transgender child; and called the episode &ldqascii117o;fascinating&rdqascii117o; no less than foascii117r times.

What did &ldqascii117o;Oascii117r America&rdqascii117o; get for all that free pascii117blicity? Aboascii117t 733,000 total viewers for its first showing, ascii117p 24 percent from the prior week. That was enoascii117gh for OWN to order six more episodes. Those episodes, however, will not be ready ascii117ntil October.