OWN might lose $143M by the end of 2012

Oprah's OWN network partnered shared by Discovery Communications is in jeopardy of losing $142.9 million...

Mar 22, 2012

Oprah’s OWN network partnered is in jeopardy of losing $142.9 million by the end of this year, according to a recent report. According to parent company Discovery Communications, the network needs an enormous increase in ratings before the end of the year. TV News Check reports:

The analysis says the network is facing many challenges in its effort to go from red to black. Among them: advertisers tired of waiting for viewers to show up and cable operators unwilling to pay affiliate fees between 20 cents and 25 cents to renew carriage agreements this year as the network had hoped.

“Although management at Discovery continues to remain bullish in their comments on the prospects for OWN, the fact that they have moved the CFO Neal Kirsch from Discovery Communications into the COO position at OWN says otherwise,” the analysis says.

“We’re expecting a big write-down in the first quarter and we would not be surprised to see Discovery ask Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions to finance some of the network’s losses going forward.

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