Marcy Carsey, of Carsey-Werner-Mandabach, a television production company, was responsible for such comedy hits as The Cosby Show, Roseanne and Third Rock From the Sun. The third partner, Geraldine Laybourne, built the children's channel Nickleodeon into one of the most successful on cable.``Women are the unrecognised economic powerhouse in this country, They now control over 70 per cent of all consumer spending in the United States,'' said Laybourne. ``By building a new brand for women on television and online, Oxygen can be today's equivalent of the 1950sback fence -- where women can learn, relax, meet, talk, plan, have fun and manage their increasingly complicated lives.''

The partners are planning a network that will offer material ranging from comedies and films to business and personal advice focused on women. The 24-hour, seven-day-a-week network will have different blocks of programmes for different parts of the day. The morning will be mostly chat with a heavy dose of interaction through the Internet.

The midday chunk will emphasise issues for working women. Laybourne said research predicted that ``by the year 2000, 80 per cent of new businesses will be started by women''. However, it could be asked how working women will find the time to watch.

A teenage block will fill the late afternoon, followed by comedies and then films that may include commentary from a female host. A cable channel designed for women marks a further bit of balkanisation in American television. There are channels for history buffs (The History Channel) and science buffs(Discovery). But no one has attempted to target watchers exclusively by sex.

Oxygen has received one significant vote of confidence from Tele-Communications Inc, America's largest cable operator. It said it would carry Oxygen, which means that the channel will be available to TCI's 7 million subscribers.

Another cable operator expressed enthusiasm for the idea. Bernard Gallagher, president of Century Communications, called Oxygen ``about the most exciting concept to come into cable in recent years''. Laybourne, a former president of Disney's channels, has wide contacts in the cable industry and her experience should help win the key battle to persuade operators to carry the channel. As for Winfrey, she was just excited to be ``one of the founding mothers''.