OPRAH TO BECOME A TV NETWORK
January 17th 2008 09:13
OPRAH THE TV SHOW, THE MAGAZINE, AND THE BOOK NOW SET TO BECOME OPRAH THE TV NETWORK
Oprah Winfrey's production company, Chicago-based Harpo Productions, announced that its owner will soon launch her own cable network.
Winfrey has inked a deal with Discovery Communications that will morph the US-based Discovery Health Channel into OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. The new net will likely launch in the second half of 2009, with ownership divided 50-50 between Harpo and Discovery. Currently, Discovery Health reaches about 68 million American households.
"This is an evolution of what I've been able to do every day," Winfrey told Associated Press. "I will now have the opportunity to do this 24 hours a day on a platform that goes on forever."
OWN will be the second network Winfrey has established. The first was Oxygen, which was sold to NBC late last year.
The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported, “Americans love The Oprah Winfrey Show, but are they ready for the Oprah Winfrey Network?
“Ms Winfrey has a huge public following which could make the channel a success even without her talk show. She has a successful monthly magazine, O, the Oprah magazine, co-published with Hearst Corp., which sold an average of 2.4 million copies a month last year, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Her book club is credited with turning various titles into best-sellers. She also has a satellite show, Oprah & Friends on XM Satellite Radio.”
Oprah Winfrey's production company, Chicago-based Harpo Productions, announced that its owner will soon launch her own cable network.
Winfrey has inked a deal with Discovery Communications that will morph the US-based Discovery Health Channel into OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. The new net will likely launch in the second half of 2009, with ownership divided 50-50 between Harpo and Discovery. Currently, Discovery Health reaches about 68 million American households.
"This is an evolution of what I've been able to do every day," Winfrey told Associated Press. "I will now have the opportunity to do this 24 hours a day on a platform that goes on forever."
The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported, “Americans love The Oprah Winfrey Show, but are they ready for the Oprah Winfrey Network?
“Ms Winfrey has a huge public following which could make the channel a success even without her talk show. She has a successful monthly magazine, O, the Oprah magazine, co-published with Hearst Corp., which sold an average of 2.4 million copies a month last year, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Her book club is credited with turning various titles into best-sellers. She also has a satellite show, Oprah & Friends on XM Satellite Radio.”
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