Fortified by caffeine and good will, the volunteer construction crew at Love Fellowship Tabernacle in Brooklyn, N.Y., worked long hours to transform a dingy storage area into the Kingdom Cafe.

The hammering and plastering created a restaurant and gathering spot for young people at this Pentecostal church in the struggling East New York neighborhood. As for the lights and camera, they were there for Divine Restoration, a TV One program that finds black churches needing a makeover and turns the process into television.

TV One, based in Silver Spring, is a cable channel devoted to black-themed programming. At four years old, the network is poised to make a profit for the first time next year, experts said.

The only other black network is bigger and older: BET. Now 27 years old, the Washington-based network reaches about 85 million households and attracts trend-making, advertising-attractive 18- to-34-year-olds.

But executives at the fast-growing TV One, in 42.2 million homes, are betting that there is a hunger among black viewers older than 25 for programming aimed at them.

At TV One, that means no music-video shows or reality series about affluent teenagers or hell dates, all BET fare. Rather, viewers find reruns of shows like Martin and Good Times, as well as programs like Baisden After Dark, a late-night talk-variety series featuring Michael Baisden, known as the bad boy of radio, and Turn Up the Heat with G. Garvin, a cooking show with the black celebrity chef. There's also Sharp Talk with Al Sharpton, a talk show set in a Brooklyn barbershop.

"Politically, socially and economically what we're doing is important," Johnathan Rodgers, TV One's president and chief executive officer, said recently. "We are controlling our images and giving black viewers a choice."

Amy Alexander, a critic who writes widely about race and media, said black cable networks were necessary because only "thin slices" of black life make it to the screen. "Why aren't there smart, fantastical shows, well produced, that have a strong black presence?" she asked. If TV One wants to become a must-see brand, she said, it needs some breakout programming.

Rodgers knows that distinctive programming is crucial.

"I have been waiting a long time for this industry to see us the way we see ourselves," he said. His lengthy resume includes six years as president of Discovery Networks and a 20-year run at CBS, where his positions included president of the television stations division.

Now his team of veterans at TV One feels a historic mission to bring black stories to TV, said Rose Catherine Pinkney, the executive vice president for programming and production.

"Anyone can do a show with black people, but we want to be honest and authentic," said Pinkney.

As an example of authenticity, Pinkney noted the setting of Sharpton's show, a barbershop, which is a kind of black town hall. Divine Restoration, she said, acknowledges the importance of the black church.

Acquired programs like reruns and movies make up 70 percent of TV One's schedule. Pinkney, well aware of the pressure to knock out a hit, said she tried to produce one new prime-time original each quarter.

TV One was started on the holiday celebrating the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., on Jan. 19, 2004, with about 2.2 million households in 16 markets. It can now be found in 69 of the top 75 African-American markets, including Baltimore.

Airtime on Radio One, the largest radio broadcaster targeting black and urban listeners, is used to promote TV One. Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, is the other major investor.

Alfred C. Liggins III, chairman of TV One and president and chief executive officer of Radio One, said he dreamed up the channel as he watched his friend Bob Johnson create BET.

But he concluded that BET was not a fit for everyone, Liggins said, and he and his investors raised $130 million to start the network, with Radio One putting up $74 million. Comcast came aboard, he said, partly because of Radio One's expertise in urban markets.

So far, so good, say media analysts. "TV One has done an amazing job getting distribution," said Derek Baine, a senior analyst at the media research firm SNL Kagan. "We have them projected to be in 50 million homes by the end of 2008."

The network should make about $70 million in revenue by the end of this year, after losing money its first four years, Baine said.