Entertainment

Oprah costs Discovery a fortune

Oprah’s over budget.

Discovery Communica tions has said that the $100 million it set aside to launch Oprah Winfrey’s OWN cable network in January isn’t going to cut it anymore.

So far, Discovery has “spent $75 million . . . on investment in the Oprah Winfrey Network,” Brad Singer, Discovery Communications Inc. CFO, said yesterday during the company’s quarterly earnings conference call.

That’s three-quarters of the contractual “maximum of $100 million that we’re obligated to,” he said.

With each delay of OWN’s launch — from 2009 to mid-2010 to January 2011 — Discovery has had to crunch some numbers and figure out a whole new cost plan.

“We’re in the process of revising that contract,” Singer said. “[The budget] likely will go up . . . the cost to launch the network, it will be higher than we had originally contemplated.”

He declined to specify what the new anticipated total cost will be. Still, Discovery is content with OWN, which it owns 50/50 with Winfrey.

There’s been “good absolute volume on the ad front,” said Peter Liguori, Discovery Communcations COO. “They’re effectively spending in investing in programming. As we have a little more time for launch, we’re able to have a solid library of programming, and we anticipate a very effective launch.”

So far, OWN has OK’d almost two dozen new series, including feel-good shows starring personalities like Shania Twain and “Iron Chef” Cat Cora. Disgraced Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, is even in talks for her own reality program.

But, that’s not enough TV to go around, it appears.

The network has completed production on only two to three nights worth of original programming so far and will have to rely on reruns to fill out the schedule when the network launches on Jan. 1.

Winfrey will have to wait until “Oprah” goes off the air in fall 2011 before she can host an OWN talk show, but she maintains a very hands-on approach to the network.

“She’s deeply involved in every aspect of the network, and truly does work her magic on a daily basis,” Liguori says.