LOS ANGELES — It happened in its own time.
After three years of planning, delays and management misfires, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network arrives Jan. 1, the biggest launch of a cable channel in more than decade.
via: Chron.com
Wall Street and the television industry are eager to see whether the celebrity who can unleash consumer trends can leverage the success of her 25-year run in daytime television into a 24-hour cable channel. The new channel is a mix of programming that encourages people to “live their best lives” with the empowerment message that is the Oprah Winfrey brand.
If viewers can only find the message. Winfrey’s network will mostly reside on channels above 200, taking over the position of Discovery Communications Inc.’s Discovery Health Channel (256 on AT&T U-Verse in Houston; 66 on Comcast). Even in the digital age, that’s a handicap – the higher the number, the less likely viewers will stumble across the programming as they switch among the more heavily watched channels.
OWN will be competing against several other entrenched cable networks aimed at the same audience. Still, backers believe, Winfrey’s emphasis on positive and optimistic programming is unique among cable networks that appeal to women. Moreover, when it comes to brand awareness, it doesn’t get more prominent than Winfrey .
“There is no network that has ever launched in 80 million homes and with the advantage of the best brand in media, which is Oprah, and a website (www.oprah.com), which is the No. 2 or No. 3 website for women,” said David Zaslav, chief executive of Discovery Communications, which owns 50 percent of OWN.
“It will be a historic launch, in terms of the reach and power,” he said.
For now, however, and with only nine days to go before launch, Winfrey is still immersed in her longtime syndicated talk show. She will tape her last episode in May – five months after OWN premieres – for episodes that will run through Sept. 9, when the program takes its final bow.
Last week, instead of being holed up at OWN’s headquarters on the Miracle Mile stretch of Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, prepping for the launch, Winfrey was traveling with 302 fans in Australia and shooting upcoming episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Indeed, Winfrey’s reluctance to loosen her grip on her daytime show has been a source of frustration for Discovery, which so far has spent $110 million out of a budgeted $189 million on start-up costs. Even as recently as 18 months ago – long after plans for OWN had been announced – Winfrey was undecided about whether she would end her daytime show. Her program, Winfrey said in a telephone interview, remains her “full-time job” while it is in production.
Indeed, Winfrey’s reluctance to loosen her grip on her daytime show has been a source of frustration for Discovery, which so far has spent $110 million out of a budgeted $189 million on start-up costs. Even as recently as 18 months ago – long after plans for OWN had been announced – Winfrey was undecided about whether she would end her daytime show. Her program, Winfrey said in a telephone interview, remains her “full-time job” while it is in production.
“I’ve built (OWN) with only 10 percent of my time, but I have surrounded myself with good people,” Winfrey said. “And when I am able to focus my full gaze on it, the network is only going to get better.”
Winfrey and her partners recognize that, unlike a new movie or TV show that must produce immediate results, it probably will take several years for OWN to establish itself.
“A lot of the programming will resonate, some of it won’t,” Zaslav said. “We recognize it’s going to take awhile to find a voice. But we have an advantage because we know what the voice is going to be.”
For 2½ years, executives at OWN have labored to line up programming that meets Winfrey’s notoriously demanding standards.
The channel is already on its second management regime. The first team was shown the door within the first year. Former MTV president Christina Norman was brought in as CEO in February 2009. Meanwhile, in the background has been Tom Freston, the architect of MTV and former head of Viacom Inc., advising on programming and strategy. Still, OWN’s program development lacked cohesion until a year ago, when Winfrey dispatched Lisa Erspamer, an executive producer of her daytime show, to Los Angeles. With Erspamer, the network finally had someone on hand who understood Winfrey’s programming sensibilities.
“I wouldn’t say we were casting about, groping around for programming, but we didn’t have Oprah’s DNA yet,” Norman said. “I didn’t know her; most people here don’t know her.”
Erspamer arrived in January bearing the title chief creative officer, and things kicked into gear.
Those hoping to see Winfrey reprise her signature daily show will be disappointed. Although Winfrey will be part of the promotional on-air blitz and host a few programs, the first month will rely heavily on TV celebrities that her production company has groomed – including relationship expert Phil McGraw and surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz. They all will appear along with financial guru Suze Orman. Winfrey’s friend Gayle King will host a daily talk show, and therapist Laura Berman will give sex advice. OWN also is jumping on the country’s obsession with talent shows: Ten people will compete for the chance to have their own show on Oprah’s Search for the Next TV Star: Your OWN Show.
Winfrey will appear in Behind the Scenes: The Oprah Show Final Season and Oprah Presents Master Class, in which she interviews such luminaries as Maya Angelou, Diane Sawyer, Simon Cowell, Jay-Z and Condoleezza Rice. Winfrey agreed to increase her on-air presence last summer, at Discovery’s request, when Discovery nearly doubled the size of its funding commitment.
Winfrey will appear in Behind the Scenes: The Oprah Show Final Season and Oprah Presents Master Class, in which she interviews such luminaries as Maya Angelou, Diane Sawyer, Simon Cowell, Jay-Z and Condoleezza Rice. Winfrey agreed to increase her on-air presence last summer, at Discovery’s request, when Discovery nearly doubled the size of its funding commitment.
“We are getting a lot of Oprah’s energy and her creative vision, and that’s one of the best assets we could have,” Zaslav said.
The channel should generate $352 million in revenue next year, operating “just under break even,” according to analyst Joyce. He figured the channel would spend $176 million for programming – the network is planning 600 hours of original programming in its first year – and nearly $200 million is needed to cover other operating expenses.
“I spent a lot of time trying to decide whether to go forward with this, and once I made the decision, then I was in. I am committed for the long haul,” Winfrey said. “This network is going to work. I know what people want.”
