Kellogg's, for instance, promotes its cereal brand, Special K, in co-productions with the Discovery Health Channel in America.

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Derek Baine, a senior analyst at media research firm SNL Kagan, says OWN's ratings have sometimes been lower than the ratings for the Discovery Health channel, which preceded OWN on the same channel number.

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Also poised to gain: the network's bottom line. (As a 50% owner and its namesake, there are significant incentives for the self-made billionaire as well.) Despite its reach--OWN is a re-branding of an already established cable service, Discovery Health Channel, so it counts some 75 million in its current subscriber base--it earns only 13 cents per subscriber in its current non-Winfrey form, according to industry research firm SNL Kagan.

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Scott never really left the health care world after HCA. He helped invest in a predecessor to the Discovery Health cable channel.

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On many cable systems, the former Discovery Health dwells in the channel wilderness, making it hard for viewers to find, to the point that Winfrey herself has resorted to begging viewers to tune in.

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