Just a little over a year after its inception, Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network is said to be struggling to stay afloat. OWN or the Oprah Winfrey Network, is losing millions according to a newly released report from Business Week magazine. According to the publication, OWN and its partner, Discovery, have both taken huge hits.
Discovery, who’s in a 50-50 partnership with the media mogul, helped launch the network and has been underwriting its costs with nearly $600 million invested in it since 2008. OWN’s estimated to have lost $330,000.
David Zaslav, the chief executive officer of Discovery Communications, is said to be frustrated by the company and considering severing ties. Winfrey might have sensed the frustrations of Zalay and other execs a few weeks ago because she alluded to needing more time. While in a business meeting “I am in the climb of my life,” she said. ” I am climbing Kilimanjaro.”
Along with asking for more time, Winfrey also spoke candidly on her views of the network even confessing that if she could turn back the hands of time, she might have “made different choices.”
“The idea of creating a network was something that I wanted to do. Had I known that it was this difficult, I might have done something else,” Winfrey said. “I didn’t think it was going to be easy, but if I knew then what I know now, I might have made different choices.”
So why is Oprah’s OWN Network struggling? That remains to be determined, but below are few things she could do to save her network from an untimely demise.
–danielle canada
Bring Back “The Oprah Winfrey Show”
Although it officially ended last year, the return of Oprah’s ‘The Oprah Winfrey” show would no doubt attract fans and audience members alike.