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Losses at Oprah Winfrey's OWN reportedly approach $330M
foxnews.com ^ | 5/7/12

Posted on 05/07/2012 10:15:18 AM PDT by Justaham

The losses at Oprah Winfrey's stumbling cable channel are approaching a staggering $330 million, according to a report.

And now industry insiders are predicting that the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) will not be able to survive another year if it does not find a hit show and make a dramatic turnaround.

Discovery, which partnered 50-50 with Winfrey to launch the network and has been underwriting its costs, has invested nearly $600 million in it since 2008, according to a report in Businessweek magazine over the weekend.

But since it started on the air in January 2011, "OWN may have lost as much as $330 million," it reported.

The magazine quotes one Wall Street media analyst calling the channel the most "successful failure in television today."

David Zaslav, Discovery Communications' CEO who talked Winfrey into the idea of OWN, is famously impatient with money-losing operations within his company.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: billionaire; oprahwinfrey; own
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To: Justaham
He closed a channel Discovery operated with The New York Times in 2008 and killed Planet Green, an eco channel, just last month.

Oh no, not Planet Green, my favorite channel.

It must be that global warming turned Planet Green into Planet Brown.

21 posted on 05/07/2012 10:38:06 AM PDT by USS Alaska (Nuke the terrorist savages, start today.)
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To: Freestate316
" Too big to fail?"
*chuckle/snicker*
before or after the diet...O'Bozo. :-D
insensitive...I don't care.

22 posted on 05/07/2012 10:43:57 AM PDT by skinkinthegrass (WA. DC E$tabli$hment; DNC/RNC/Unionists...old Brazilian saying: "$@me $hit; different flie$". :^)
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To: Justaham

What’s her net worth right now? I’m thinking that she still has another $700 million to burn!


23 posted on 05/07/2012 10:45:30 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine
"What’s her net worth right now? I’m thinking that she still has another $700 million to burn!"

Give it another year, she will be down to seeds and stems. . .
Then we can really party. . . . .

24 posted on 05/07/2012 10:50:59 AM PDT by DeaconRed (My vote in Nov will be dictated by my extreme hatred for ZERO and what he is doing to our country.)
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To: DH
This just could not happen to a more deserving group of man haters, whitey haters, American haters, and downright communists. It’s good to hear some great news from time to time.

Couldn't agree more

25 posted on 05/07/2012 10:53:54 AM PDT by Digger (If RINO is your selection then failure is your election)
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To: Justaham

Oprah had her times of wild success but those years are behind her now. Any success going foward will be on a much smaller scale now. She was much more successful under the white presidents vs. The Zer0 becomes The One. Hope she likes the Change.


26 posted on 05/07/2012 10:56:48 AM PDT by tflabo (Truth or tyranny)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Reminds me of the scene in “Citizen Kane” where somone tells Kane he’s loosing 100s of thousands/year on his paper.

He smiles and says, at that rate I’ll be out of business in 150 years.

I’m sure O is using OPM for this deal.


27 posted on 05/07/2012 10:56:57 AM PDT by DManA
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To: USS Alaska
OWN was originally DiscoveryHealth, iirc.

And what the heck does a "successful failure in television today" mean? The analyst must be kissing Oprah's tuckus, because Apollo XIII it ain't.

28 posted on 05/07/2012 10:57:24 AM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: JLAGRAYFOX

It’s OK to hobnob with the entertainment types to get elected. But you should avoid them like the plague if you reach office. Clinton’s association with Thomasson gave us the infamous “I did not have sex” sound bite.


29 posted on 05/07/2012 10:57:54 AM PDT by AppyPappy (If you really want to annoy someone, point out something obvious that they are trying hard to ignore)
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To: liberalh8ter
"Bailout....Obama owes her."

Oprah is too BIG to fail!

30 posted on 05/07/2012 11:03:06 AM PDT by libs_kma (When I see anyone with an Obama 2012 bumper sticker, I recognize them as a threat to the gene pool)
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To: Jack Hydrazine; DeaconRed

You don’t think it is the O’s money do you. That 330 mil is mainly Discovery channel cash.


31 posted on 05/07/2012 11:08:17 AM PDT by RightOnTheBorder
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To: Justaham

Great news! I would have bet on its success.


32 posted on 05/07/2012 11:08:32 AM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas (Viva Christo Rey!)
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To: Justaham

So glad to hear it.

She worked hard for it with her ‘happy dance’ and jetting the Obama’s around....


33 posted on 05/07/2012 11:10:04 AM PDT by Freddd (No PA Engineers)
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To: RightOnTheBorder
True but I think there was a burn rate where Oprah was going to have to kick in her money. I they used up the Discovery Channel cash a while back.
34 posted on 05/07/2012 11:13:28 AM PDT by Hillarys Gate Cult (Liberals make unrealistic demands on reality and reality doesn't oblige them.)
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To: wtd

What “Oprah’s political activism has cost this nation” is a drop in the bucket compared to that of the broadcast networks.

CBS nearly threw a presidential election with those forged memos. CEO Les Moonves should have been fired and brought up before Congress. The news department should have been gutted. In fact, the FCC should have yanked CBS’ license to broadcast on the public airwaves for a least a year.

Oh, but Dan Rather gets to “retire.” Okay. Justice has been served.

And yet Oprah’s network reaches (on its best day) 300,000 people. Most days its about 180,000.

I think FReepers are directing their vitriol at the wrong target.


35 posted on 05/07/2012 11:16:07 AM PDT by Blue Ink
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To: nathanbedford

Glenn has 300k subscribers and is grossing $40 million annually, according to The Atlantic.

http://m.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/04/behind-the-paywall-at-glenn-becks-confounding-web-tv-network/256328/

Pretty impressive.


36 posted on 05/07/2012 11:18:09 AM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas (Viva Christo Rey!)
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To: St_Thomas_Aquinas

OWN. What exactly does this mean. Is she so insecure she is trying to act like she owns white slaves or something. She voted for obama because he is black. She will go down the tubes right along with obama and the socialist/communist democrat frauds who fraudulently elected this ineligible candidate.


37 posted on 05/07/2012 11:29:38 AM PDT by spawn44
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To: RightOnTheBorder
"You don’t think it is the O’s money do you. That 330 mil is mainly Discovery channel cash."

Yep but she is going through it like dodo through a goose.
They can't be happy and will pull the plug real soon.
I am still planning a party. I already bought the root beer. . . . .

38 posted on 05/07/2012 11:30:12 AM PDT by DeaconRed (My vote in Nov will be dictated by my extreme hatred for ZERO and what he is doing to our country.)
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To: tflabo
Oprah had her times of wild success but those years are behind her now. Any success going foward will be on a much smaller scale now. She was much more successful under the white presidents vs. The Zer0 becomes The One. Hope she likes the Change.

I guess most of Oprah's 'dreams' for America have come true. What useful purpose does she serve when those dreams become a nightmare for many, many Americans?

39 posted on 05/07/2012 11:36:54 AM PDT by Tallguy (It's all 'Fun and Games' until somebody loses an eye!)
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To: Justaham
poor Harpo...
40 posted on 05/07/2012 11:56:47 AM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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