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Discovery Is Bullish on OWN

Feb 14, 2013  •  Post A Comment

Discovery CEO David Zaslav talked about the prospects for OWN — a joint venture of Discovery and Oprah Winfrey — in a call this morning with analysts, saying ratings for the cable channel are “ahead of where we thought we’d be,” Deadline.com reports.

The report notes: “The audience was up in all 12 months of 2012, and was +36% for the full year. He’s also encouraged by the two series from Tyler Perry that are scheduled to launch in May: a drama, ‘The Haves And the Have Nots,’ and a comedy, ‘Love Thy Neighbor.’”

Said Zaslav: “I’ve seen the scripts and they look strong.” The report notes that Winfrey is actively involved with the projects.

The report notes that Zaslav said Perry just “sent me some pictures and Oprah was in the control room,” Zaslav says.

Zaslav’s bottom-line assessment, according to the report, is that “Discovery is ‘fully on track’ to see OWN‘s cash flow break even in the second half of 2013. CFO Andy Warren adds that Discovery ‘achieved our objective’ of providing less funding for OWN in 2012 than it did in 2011.”

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