Those scripted shows join a growing roster of reality projects, including “Concrete Kings,” about the construction business, and “Rodeo Girls,” about female rodeo competitors, both for A&E; and “Under the Gunn” a spinoff of the company’s continuing “Project Runway” series on Lifetime.

Over all, the television operation — headed by Meryl Poster, a former film producer — is counting on what Weinstein associates describe as “the Harvey factor” and “the Weinstein DNA.” Those have something to do with the brothers’ talent relationships, and Harvey Weinstein’s undeniable flair for promotion. (His latest coup was landing an official White House screening for “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” even as administration officials said they planned to stop dabbling in Hollywood’s Oscar campaigns.)

Though no guarantee of success, the combination is enough to command attention.

“Would I be surprised in the coming years if Harvey brought something to us that makes sense for HBO? Not in the least,” said Richard Plepler, chief executive of HBO. The TV push is backed by money from a freshly negotiated $370 million in available lending from an arrangement with Union Bank. About $150 million of that is earmarked for television, Mr. Glasser said.

Mr. Weinstein acknowledged that in its early years, his company stumbled in a first round of expansion that aimed to make it less a studio than a mini-media conglomerate. “We had a rough start, to say the least,” he said.

Early misadventures included the brief ownership of a controlling stake in the social network ASmallWorld, and the acquisition of a majority stake in Genius, a home video distribution company that flopped. Once valued at $400 million, the Genius holding dwindled in value as the DVD market collapsed, and was off-loaded in 2009.

Mr. Weinstein said James L. Dolan, a friend and the chief executive of Cablevision Systems, had been particularly forceful in urging him to focus on television. With its relatively quick pacing and potential for long-running hits, TV can be a counterweight to the jagged economics of film, where even a success like “The King’s Speech” — a Weinstein-distributed Oscar winner in 2011 — may fade without creating spinoffs and sequels.