Oxygen Rises In Manhattan

NEW YORK -- Oxygen Media, which has been unable to get carried by Time Warner or Cablevision in the New York metropolitan area, says it will launch on the smaller RCN system in Manhattan on Tuesday.

The numbers are not huge --about 100,000 subscribers -- but it is significant to Oxygen because people in the entertainment and media world live and work in Manhattan, Oxygen senior vp affiliate sales Mary Murano said.

"It's the largest market in the country," Murano said. "We're absolutely thrilled to be there. It's such good news. We break through in the biggest media market in the world. It puts us on the map."

Murano said Oxygen hopes the RCN deal will create consumer demand and awareness for the network and drive incremental distribution.

"It's important to the network in getting attention," she said.

Oxygen, in about 10 million households, continues to strive for more viewers and expects to surpass 13 million by the end of the year, Murano said. The network has commitments that would bring it to 30 million subscribers by 2002, she said.

Oxygen has been on RCN in the borough of Queens since its launch in January. The number of homes was unavailable.

Asked about Oxygen's prospects for getting Time Warner and Cablevision to carry it, Murano said, "We are talking to them as well as our other prospects." She would not elaborate.

Murano did say, though, that Oxygen received a commitment last week at the CTAM Summit in Boston from Charter Communications to launch on its system in Burbank and Glendale in September. That deal represents about 100,000 households, she said.

"It's right in the heart of the Hollywood production community," Murano said. "That's why we're excited about it."