{alltv} Oprah Winfrey prepares to venture out on her OWN

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After delays, management shake-ups and a renegotiation of her on-air commitment, Oprah Winfrey is ready for her cable close-up.

The Oprah Winfrey Network premieres at noon ET/PT on New Year's Day with a weekend lineup of sneak previews, Master Class interviews with Jay-Z and Diane Sawyer and Ask Oprah's All-Stars, the first of four two-hour specials that will offer viewers advice from Oprah disciples Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and Suze Orman.

Discovery Networks is sinking $189 million into the joint venture with the talk-show queen and will reach 78 million homes — two-thirds of the country — right off the bat. Though the channel has announced plans for several shows emphasizing empowerment, until now it has kept specific rollout plans under wraps, along with two more series reuniting actors Ryan and Tatum O'Neal and country singers Naomi and Wynonna Judd as each works through "complex" parent-child relationships.

High-profile series, including globe-trotting interview show Oprah's Next Chapter and a daily talk show with Rosie O'Donnell, won't appear until fall. But launch weekend is designed to deliver "an honest and true representation of what OWN is," says channel president Christina Norman.

Programming chief Lisa Erspamer says the network's goal is "to entertain people, inspire people and educate people about themselves and others," without force-feeding viewers a diet of feel-good fare.

At a conference last week in Long Beach, Calif., Winfrey promised OWN will be "fun and entertaining without tearing people down and calling them bitches," an apparent swipe at competitors such as Bravo.

Her employee and admirer Dr. Phil McGraw, who has a big early presence on the new channel, says, "She gets to the answers people want to hear about subjects that matter," and "that whole philosophy is defining the network."

Fans will be waiting, and Winfrey — who promises to appear in 70 hours of programming a year — will make a bigger splash once production ends on her daytime talk show in May.

"It's hard to think of too many launches of new cable networks that are more hyped," says Todd Gordon, managing director at top ad buyer Initiative Media. "There's no doubt that shows Oprah is directly involved in will do very, very well. But the ultimate success of the network will be based on all the shows around it."