Oprah's OWN: Losses approach $330m, industry insiders predict it will be axed by end of year

By Rachel Quigley
The losses at Oprah Winfrey’s troubled cable channel are approaching a staggering $330 million, according to a report over the weekend.

Industry insiders believe the channel - the Oprah Winfrey network (OWN) - will not last another year unless they come up with a hit show and make a dramatic turnaround.

Though ratings have seen a slight insurgence thanks to interview program Oprah's Next Chapter, it has stumbled since the get go with ratings of just 308,000 daily.

It is believed shows which do not feature the chat show queen herself are not popular with viewers.

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

Axed: Rosie O'Donnell and Oprah allegedly fell out when her shows was axed after just six months

Since it started on the air in January 2011, it may have lost as much as $330million, according to the magazine.

David Zaslav, the chief executive officer of Discovery Communications who talked Oprah into the idea of OWN, is famously impatient with money-losing operations within his company and insiders say he will not put up with the aiing network's losses for much longer.

Winfrey appeared before advertisers two weeks ago to ask for more time, telling them: 'I am in the climb of my life. I am climbing Kilimanjaro.'

Although she doesn't risk losing a lot of money from the channel's failings, Oprah's reputation is at stake.

Over her 39-year career, The Oprah Winfrey Show had as many as 12.5 million viewers. O, The Oprah Magazine had more than two million subscribers. And her Internet site, Oprah.com, draws more than three million unique visitors a month.

Her image as the most successful TV star of her generation is on the line.

E-mails to OWN and Oprah’s production company, Harpo, were not returned yesterday.

In March i was announced that Rosie O' Donnell's talk show The Rosie Show had been axed by the network after only six months.

It debuted with 500,000 viewers but within days fell to half of that.

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The TV stars both released statements, with Rosie saying she 'wished the show was able to attract more viewers.'
OPRAH WINFREY'S FAILURES

    Oprah.com attracted 5.1million unique users in January 2011 when her daytime chat show was still being aired. But by July it was half that number at 2.4million, according to figures from comScore.
    At the end of last year, O Magazine's circulation was 2.4million, but it has steadily fallen since then and is expected to be around 1.9million by the summer.
    OWN premiered on January 1, 2011, to an average of 505,000 viewers. One month later ratings plummeted to an average of just 135,000 with only 30 per cent of those viewers in the targeted demographic of women ages 25 to 54.
    The Rosie Show debuted on OWN with 497,000 viewers.Within a week the ratings plummeted to 200,000 per episode.

She added in a statement: 'I loved working with Oprah in the amazing city of Chicago. I was welcomed with open arms and will never forget the kindness of all I encountered.'

In a statement, Oprah Winfrey said: 'I thank Rosie from the bottom of my heart for joining me on this journey. She has been an incredible partner, working to deliver the best possible show every single day.

'As I have learned in the last 15 months, a new network launch is always a challenge and ratings grow over time as you continue to gather an audience.'

However, just a week after they released these statements, it was reported the pair were not even on speaking terms because Rosie was unhappy with the way the press release was worded announcing her show was being unceremoniously dumped.

In February, the media mogul came under fire after she made a controversial bid to resuscitate ratings on Twitter.

Competing for viewers on the same night as this year's Grammy Awards, she took to the micro-blogging site to ask her 9.2million followers: 'Every 1 who can please turn to OWN especially if u have a Nielsen box.
'
Ratings fail: The Rosie Show started off with 500,000 viewers but within days this had dropped by 50 per cent

The tweet was deleted, Ms Winfrey said, 'at the request of Nielsen', which prohibits clients from attempting to influence ratings.

A backlash of comments followed, with several Twitter users accusing the mogul of 'being desperate'.