Oprah Winfrey's bold gamble on her OWN TV network debuted to mostly positive reviews and encouraging audience numbers at the weekend, winning over some cynics with its feel-good tone.

But many stalwart Oprah fans expressed dismay that they could not receive the new OWN network without paying to upgrade their cable television packages — money that several said they could not afford.

The OWN network, aimed mostly at middle-aged women, made its debut on Saturday after three years of planning.

According to preliminary Nielsen figures, OWN was watched by an average one million Americans in prime time on Saturday, and was the third biggest ad-supported cable network with women aged 25-54.

Daytime talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, on free-to-air ABC, attracts about six million US viewers daily. Winfrey, 56, will end the show in May to focus on OWN.

New York Times reviewer Alessandra Stanley called the channel a "no cynicism zone" which had "not a snicker of malice or a hint of raillery". Caryn James at Indiewire noted that beneath the "huge amount of lifestyle fluff" there was "a surprising layer of substance".

OWN is available in some 80 million homes, or 67 per cent of US households. But many of Winfrey's millions of loyal fans were upset to find they could not access OWN without forking over hundreds of dollars extra to cable TV providers.

A fan in New Orleans congratulated Winfrey on the new venture, but was concerned that "many people in our area will not be able to watch" the pay-to-view OWN channel. "We love you and will miss you," added Chey925 on the OWN message boards on Monday.

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